There's Still Fireworks
by Commander Argus
Summary: A look at a moment in time that might have gone a little differently for Kim and Ron.  Not part of my It Finally Happened arc
1. There's Still Fireworks

**There's still fireworks**

* * *

_a/n – Not part of the It Finally Happened/Trinity Sitch Continuity_

* * *

"Aah! Oh! Shego, please, stop that! Oh, ho! Oh! I'm sorry! I'll make you dinner."

Despite the complex emotions still swirling in her head, Kim watched as the two villains disappeared over a hill. The flickering green light was lost as the night sky was lit up by the fireworks display.

That brought her mind back to the matter at hand, or, more exactly, to her best friend, who, thankfully, was fully enraptured by the fiery bursts and the thunderclaps of the explosions. It seemed for the moment his focus had shifted from her. That is, until she realized he was looking at her, and not the heavens. Their eyes met for perhaps just a fraction of a second, but so much passed silently between them. Her heart almost skipped a beat when she realized he was about to speak.

"KP, do you think we need to go after them?"

It took her mind a couple moments to register just what he was asking. At first she thought she heard him asking something about them, something she was not quite ready to delve into. Part of her wanted to deal with what had just happened between them, while the other just wanted it to go away. In the space of just a day, something that was a simple constant in her life had become so the drama.

"Uh." She hesitated a couple heartbeats, trying to get her mind back on their current sitch. How odd that Ron would be the one to think first in "Mission Mode" rather than her. "I don't think so. Dr. Drakken's not going to be in any shape to pose any kind of threat tonight, I think."

Kim looked around. A lot of the crowd still had their eyes on her, waiting to see if she was going to take off after Ron again. How was she going to live that down? The whole school had seen what she did and word had spread like wildfire about her kissing Ron as school. The fight at the festival was going to be paramount on the grapevine, perhaps for some time to come.

Oddly, for a moment, she felt very self-conscious about being out in public in the short, black dress.

"I'm a lot more worried about where Dr. Bortel got to." Anger flared through her mind, real anger, not something either put there by the Moodulator, or amplified by it. That was the real problem with her, she didn't know what was real and what had been forced on her. Emerald eyes met chocolate brown ones again, forcing her to look away, something she never had to do with Ron before.

Was the sudden urge to kiss him again her, or was it something left behind by the device?

"I don't see him." Ron craned his neck, then climbed up onto one of the vacant bleachers left from the parade.

Kim balled her fists, scanning the crowd as well, silently cursing her petite stature. The small, round-headed man was nowhere to be seen. Drakken's villainy was so much more direct, out in the open. It was something she could deal with, something she could point to and say 'that is evil.'

At that moment, to her mind, the _ferociously unethical_ scientist was so much worse.

Ron climbed back down, fighting with the pickle costume he had donned after Shego slashed his pants. More out of habit than anything else, she scooped them up off the ground, handing them back to him. He was forced to hold them up to his waist, since the belt was now in two pieces, but at least he had some shred of dignity, at least as he perceived it.

He met her eyes again, a wavy, goofy grin forming on his face.

It took all of her will not to look away again. That is, until she remembered the tiny, shattered device hidden in her palm. She looked down at it again.

What lingering effects was it having on her? How much control did it exert over her while it was functioning? When it failed, she could feel the strong emotions quickly fading, leaving her momentarily weak as her body readjusted to what her mind and soul were feeling.

Was the crush all moodulator? She looked at him again, trying to sort it all out. The previous morning she had seen Josh walking hand-in-hand with Tara. That shouldn't have affected her as much as it did, especially considering there really had never been anything 'official' between the two of them. A couple dates, a little hanging around…that didn't mean they were a real couple. As much as she wanted there to be, there was never any real spark between them, yet, seeing him with her friend, obviously acting like a 'true' couple, had hit her like a hammer-blow.

Ron was so different from Josh. She never really thought about it before, but the person, the young man she considered her best friend in the world, wasn't really all that much to look at. That had never been important to her before, because that wasn't relevant to their relationship.

With a touch of shame, Kim realized that if Ron hadn't been her friend since childhood, she would have likely never given him the time of day.

All that changed when she kissed him.

It would have been so much easier if she couldn't recall what had happened, yet it was all there, burned permanently into her memory. She not only recalled what she had seen, what it had felt like physically to kiss him, but what she was feeling at the moment. The device might not have been creating fake emotions in her any longer, but there was nothing that could be done about the memories of them.

Her heart was sick, not knowing if what she was feeling at the moment was real, or just some leftover that would fade into a memory she did not yet know if it would be pleasant or not.

"You ready to go home, KP?"

She found her brain was pretty much functioning on autopilot. "Yeah, I guess so." She replied quietly. Her body almost jumped clear out of her skin when he gently took her hand in his to lead her back toward their neighborhood.

"Oh." She exclaimed softly.

"You don't mind, do you?" He asked as they walked.

"I…I guess not." She smiled softly back at him. They were technically still on their date, even though they had 'broken up' in the midst of it. To her, that was no more real than their brief relationship had been, so she took solace in the fact he apparently had no hard feelings about it.

Not to mention, it somehow felt really good, really natural to hold his hand that way. His _paw _(she really couldn't think of any other way to describe it) was very large, and very strong, but also very soft. Outside of their missions, Ron really didn't do all that much manual labor, being a tad lazy, so he never really got calluses to speak of. He was also surprisingly gentle. The relative few dates she had actually been on, the guy always seemed to want to show just how strong their hands really were, as if that was some indication of their virility. Kim's hands were astoundingly strong for their size (they had to be, to hold onto her grappler gun) but they were small and she always felt uncomfortable when they tried that. It was actually more uncomfortable than the awk-weird moment at the end when they were trying to decide if they should try kissing her.

Kim's cheeks flushed when she realized that Ron was going to be in that position when they reached her house.

Did she want to kiss him again? Actually, the answer to that was yes, but her reasons were somewhat muddled. For one thing, she wanted to know if what she experienced in front of her locker was real, or just the Moodulator messing around with her mind. It seemed like it had been real. Ron, though taken by surprise, had actually gotten into the lip action, at least until the point he passed out.

Okay, so Ron could kiss. That was certainly a surprise. A while back, while he was under the influence of the truth ray, he confessed that he had never actually kissed a girl. Apparently he didn't count that time under Drakken's mistletoe, though that was really only a peck on the cheek. Kissing Ron otherwise was something she never actually considered before. It was, like, something that really shouldn't have crossed her mind. To her, he was just like Monique, though closer…much closer.

Kim looked back over her shoulder. Downtown Middleton, with the lingering crowds still enjoying what was left of the festival, was several blocks behind them. Ahead, in the distance, she could see the brick arch that guarded the entrance of their neighborhood. Inside of ten minutes, they would be back before the red door leading into her home.

Oddly enough, she didn't want the night to end.

Holding firmly onto Ron's hand, she stopped, pulling him to a halt as well.

"Ron, we've got to talk."

She cursed herself for saying those words. It didn't matter that they truly needed to talk, but those particular words, in that order, carried so much more baggage with them. She could see his whole body sag just slightly, and this time he wouldn't meet her eyes.

"It's okay, KP. We already had the talk, remember. I don't want to ruin what we've got. I know I'm not 'golden' or anything, but I also know I'm your best friend. That means too much to me to screw it up with…this." He gently let go of her hand.

"Ron…I'm going to be honest with you. I really don't know what I'm feeling, what's going on with me right now. This isn't like the time Drakken put that mind control chip on me. All that did was control my actions. This is so ferociously worse, because I don't know what's real any more."

He took her hand again, and action that sent fire up her arm. "That's why it's okay. I'm _your_ best friend, and maybe this time I know what's best for you, even if you don't. Even if it hadn't been for that mood thingy back there, it's pretty obvious you're just rebounding from Josh."

"I am so not rebounding." She said coldly.

"Yes, you are, KP. I've known you long enough I know what you're thinking. You might have seemed like you were just blowing it off yesterday morning, but I could tell it was just an act."

Kim let go of his hand and turned away from him. "How can I be rebounding? Josh and I didn't really have anything. He never asked me to be his girlfriend, all we did was go out a couple times."

"Kim, that's what makes it worse. You had feelings for him and he found out he didn't have them for you. What he thought he saw in you wasn't what he saw when you dated. He used to talk about you all the time, how you were so confident, so steady, so strong, but when you got around him, you turned into some kind of airhead."

"So not!"

"So did. Kim, you went to pieces every time you got within five feet of him. That's not you. He wanted the strong, take charge Kim Possible he saw when you were around me. You couldn't be yourself with him and that ultimately drove him away from you."

She turned back to him, narrowing her eyes slightly. "If anybody else were saying this to me."

"But I'm not anyone else. KP, you're everything I would ever want in a girlfriend. You're cute, you're smart, you're athletic, but none of that means anything if I wasn't your friend first. That's why I had to let you down easy."

A rude sound emerged from her throat, making her cover her mouth quickly. "Sorry, Ron, but I somehow thought I was going to be the one letting you down easy at some point, not the other way around."

They were close to a storefront with steps leading up to the door. The place was long closed for the evening, so she guided him to the steps and sat down beside him.

"Ron, I've got a delicate question to ask you. I think I know you well enough that I already know the answer." She took his hand again, marveling at how nice it felt to hold it like that.

"Uh, delicate? If this is about…"

"Ron, are you a virgin?"

She was certain he was going to pass out, and she knew the question would have that kind of effect on him. What surprised her was how much she felt like she was going to swoon as well.

To his credit, he managed to remain conscious, though it was a good thing they were both sitting down. "Kim, I think if I wasn't, you'd somehow know."

She shook her head slightly, fighting the urge to touch his cheek. "No, Ron, I don't think I would. We're so close, yet I don't even know if you've had real feelings for anybody, and the way you feel about me, I'm willing to bet if you had been with anyone, you'd go out of your way to keep it from me to spare my feelings."

"No way, KP. I don't keep that kind of secret from you. I swear, the furthest I've ever gotten with a girl is kissing…and I've only done that once."

"You mean, I'm the only…"

"Yeah. KP, look at me. I know I'm not all that attractive. I put on a show sometimes but that's really something I'm not. Closest I've ever come to anything was when Bonnie started hanging around because I had all that money. If I hadn't had that posse…"

"Wow. Never thought I'd be glad you were surrounded by all those fake friends."

"Hey, you're saying your glad I didn't score? Come on, KP, I'm a guy. It's not like I didn't want to."

"Ronnie, I'm sorry. Let me put it this way, I'm glad you didn't sleep with Bonnie." She sat there a couple minutes, just looking at him. She found his low opinion of his own looks hurt her more than the prospect of his losing his virginity to her rival.

"Aren't you going to ask me now?"

"Huh?" He was clearly perplexed.

"About me? Turnabout's fair play."

"KP…that…that's none of my business. What you and Josh may have…"

"Ron, I _am_ still a virgin. I've never really been out with anyone to get to the point where I'd even think about having sex with them. That is, until tonight."

He almost swooned again. "You mean, you, me, tonight?" He swallowed hard.

Kim turned almost as crimson as the jewelry she was wearing. "Ron, that thing I had on me had me so screwed up, so…into you that…"

He slumped visibly, a slight smile appearing. "That's a relief."

"A relief? Ron, you wouldn't want to make love with me?"

"I…uh…we…uh…what were we talking about?"

"The fact that I was going to have sex with you at the end of our date. I didn't care how I ended up making it happen, it was going to happen. Here, let me show you something."

For the second time that evening, Ron's jaw just about fell off his face as she pulled the hem her short dress up, just enough so he had a glimpse of sheer black lace – lace that left very, very little to the imagination.

Almost a heartbeat too late, his hand went automatically to his eyes, shielding himself from seeing things he knew he wasn't supposed to see.

She quickly pushed the dress back down over her legs, immediately realizing how much of a gentleman Ron always was with her, even when she wanted him to see. How strange it was that, at least in that moment, she wanted to share her little secret with him.

"Ronnie." She paused a moment. She couldn't remember ever calling him that before that day, or anything other than just Ron. Why did she suddenly have the urge to call him that? "Ron, if it wasn't that thing, if I really was crushing on you, how would you have dealt with it?"

"I dunno, KP. I was so freaked out when it happened…it was just…so out of the blue. If it really was real, I think we would have seen it coming. We would have talked about it. Thing is, I just don't see it happening. You're…Kim Possible. You can do anything. I'm just your goofy little sidekick."

Anger flared in her eyes. "No, don't say things like that, Ron. What makes somebody love somebody isn't if they look 'golden' or have huge muscles or cute little ears. You're not ugly and I'm not all that pretty. I'm skinny, I've barely got hips and I really barely have anything else." She nodded toward her chest.

"Are you crazy, KP? You're like the most badically beautiful girl in the whole school. No, scratch that, the whole Tri-City."

"I don't have the most beautilicious eyes. You can't lie about that, Ron. I was standing right there when you said that to Penny."

"Kim, that was the truth then because I didn't see you that way. The idea of looking at you as…somebody I'd desire was so far from my mind. Besides, it's not just your eyes, it's the whole package."

"You think I'm pretty?"

"The word is beautiful, KP. I…"

She cut him off by kissing him again. It wasn't much of a kiss, she simply leaned in and captured his lips in hers. His eyes slowly closed as he gave into it, letting her guide him, taking the bus where she wanted to.

All to quickly she leaned back, looking straight at his face. He sat there frozen for a moment, then his eyes finally fluttered open.

"Ron, that one was real. I kissed you that time because I wanted to, because I wanted an answer to a question."

"A question?"

"Yeah. I wanted to know if kissing you felt that good without that thing."

"What was the answer?"

She smiled slightly, then responded to his query by kissing him again. This time she put her hand on the back of his neck and pulled him in a little closer, her lips parting so her tongue could seek the tip of his. This time the kiss lasted many minutes, and when it finally ended, she left her hand there on his neck.

"Spankin." She breathed, putting her forehead against his.

"Really, cause I'm not sure I know what I'm doing."

"Ron, practice isn't what makes a kiss good. It's liking what's happening while you're doing it. It's wanting to do it. It's wanting to do it again."

Taking the cue, he leaned in, granting her a kiss of his own. Hesitantly, he wrapped an arm around her nearly bare shoulder, drawing her closer. She let him, feeling his slight body pressed against her slender frame, liking every moment of it.

"I think your Dad is going to ground you if I don't get you home soon." He held up his watch, showing that it was already five minutes after ten.

Kim withdrew her hand, putting it in her lap and looking down at her feet. Somehow the moment seemed lost.

"Awk-weird?" She asked.

"A little."

"Yeah. I liked it, though."

"So." Ron said, obviously torn whether he should take her hand again or not.

"So." Kim replied. "Where do we go from here?"

"I think we need to get home before your Dad starts calling the space center. I so don't want to end up being sent to a black hole."

She chuckled slightly. "I'm talking about us."

"I don't know, KP. I love you like all the world as my best friend, and kissing you is so beyond badical I don't know where to begin, but…"

"…but neither of us knows if what we're feeling is real, or at least I don't."

"What do you want, KP?"

She rested her hand on her chin, showing no sign that she was ready to resume her walk home. "I honestly don't know what I want, Ron. Until a couple days ago I was still sitting around waiting for Josh to finally ask me to be his girlfriend. When I found out that wasn't going to happen…I…I think I stopped thinking about stuff, thinking about having somebody in my life. I've been wrapped up in him so long…"

"I understand."

"You do?"

"Yeah. You're afraid that I'm either just a rebound, or it's just a leftover from that mood thingy. The fact you found out I'm a bon-diggity kisser was just a side effect."

"You certainly have a high opinion of yourself all of a sudden." She laughed, still leaning on her fist, but shooting him a sideways glance.

"I have it on good authority, from somebody I trust and respect. It's just…having feelings…that kind of feelings for somebody, it isn't about kissing, or even that other stuff you were thinking about. Riding the spinny rides at the fair feels good, but you don't see me sending them flowers or something."

She smiled broadly "Why is it I can see you doing something like that?"

"Hah hah. Honestly, Kim, I don't know what to tell you. Maybe we were just meant to be friends."

"Ron, you asked me what I want, but what do you want?"

"I want you to be happy, KP."

"But what if I said I wanted you to be happy too, Ron. Besides me being happy, what do you want…to be happy? Do you want to be my boyfriend? I know, you want what I want, but deep down. What if what happened tonight isn't a rebound, or a side-effect. What if all that's really happened is we've opened up our eyes?"

"That's the problem. There's too many 'what-ifs' in there. There's also the what if we weren't meant to be together. There's the what if we make a go of this and it doesn't work. What's that going to do to our friendship?"

Kim reached out and took his hand. "We've been friends for too long. Can asking the question whether we love each other, or can love each other that way such a bad thing that what we already have can't survive it?"

"The song says, 'Love is a powerful thing.' It's stronger than anything. They also say there's not much between love and hate."

"So not the drama. If that were true, then people could think that all this fighting with Shego was…something else. Ron, what if love is what we already have, being best friends? We already like being together, and if the last little bit is any indication, we like kissing. Could it be you've been right here beside me all this time?"

"KP, you make it sound like you want to be my girlfriend."

This time she actually did touch his cheek, with both hands. She cupped his face for a couple seconds, then reached behind his head to pull him in for another kiss. It wasn't as deep as the previous one, nor as long, but the feelings behind it were becoming much clearer.

"Ron, all those thing you said, they might be true, but…I'd hate to not try, I'd hate to miss out on something just because we were afraid of what might happen. I would so hate not having you in my life, and if I did meet somebody, if I did finally get some other boyfriend…you remember what it was like when I met Monique. You were afraid just having another good friend would come between us. I felt the same way about you and Felix…and if there were some girl. If you were crushing on somebody…"

"Honestly, up until this morning, if it had been somebody female with a pulse, I'd have thought about that. This just seems…too easy, too quick."

"Ron, we've known each other twelve years. And maybe it's supposed to be easy. I don't know. Maybe I will wake up tomorrow morning and wonder just what got into my head tonight. Right now, at this moment, I don't care. I want it to be easy. Ron Stoppable, will you be my boyfriend?"

"Yes."

"Will you put up with my natural Kimness? Will you understand if I do feel differently in the morning?"

"You're scaring me, KP."

"Look at me, Ron. I'm shaking like a leaf. I've never had a boyfriend before. I'm literally scared out of my wits that this might not be real."

"KP, if it makes you feel any better, everything I feel for you is as real as it gets."

"I know, and maybe that's what I love about you most, and that much I do know. I promise you, no matter what I think I'm feeling in the morning, we're going to make a go at this, and I expect you to hold me to that deal, Mr. Stoppable."

"Since you put it that way, Miss Possible, I can't do anything but take you up on it. I do have one question for you, though."

"What's that, Ronnie." She leaned in, resting her forehead against his so the tips of their noses were touching.

"What did you mean about there still being fireworks?"

She wrapped her hands around his waist and showed him. Many minutes later, they broke the kiss and he helped her to her feet.

"So, all that other stuff, that was all the Moodulator, huh?"

She shot him another look, favoring him with a sly smile. "Yes, _it_ was."

_For now_, she thought to herself.

* * *

Kim Possible and all related characters © Disney 


	2. The Day After

**_There's Still Fireworks_: Part 2**

**The Day After**

* * *

Kim's eyes fluttered open, beholding the bright, spring-time sun streaming through her open windows. She was wrapped snugly in her thick, pink comforter, her Pandaroo clutched to her chest so tightly it would likely be somewhat limp until she could fluff the stuffing just a bit.

Carefully she extracted herself from the covers, a beautiful smile spread across her face as the events of the previous night replayed in her mind.

She had a boyfriend. Not some guy she was crushing on, not a boy she went out with a couple times, trying to impress him, but an honest to goodness, we're 'going steady' kind of boyfriend. Somebody who was exclusive to her, somebody she could point to and say 'he's mine' and know he could do the same about her.

Still holding the aging plush toy to her breast, she danced around the room a couple times. It was amazing just how freeing admitting how she felt about Ron was. For some time the feelings had actually been there, she simply either would not, or could not acknowledge them. The thought that he was 'just a friend' always reared up, keeping her from thinking of him any differently.

Then too, being honest with herself, she had to admit that he wasn't exactly what she thought she was looking for either. He wasn't a 'golden hottie' like Josh, or a big, strong, handsome man like Brick. Granted, she knew the latter wasn't anyone she would consider, though she did have to admit he was rather pleasing to look at.

Ron was nothing like either of them. He was a little plain in the looks department and a bit on the small side as guys went. Not that he was unattractive by any stretch of the imagination, just that, if he wasn't already her best friend, she might not have ever considered him at all.

For that, she was suddenly incredibly grateful.

Finally putting the doll down, she glanced at herself in her dresser mirror. Her hair was a slept-on mess and she still had the tiny black dress on, though it was somewhat wrinkled and her hose apparently had either been nicked in the fight, or simply didn't have the endurance to take being worn to bed. All in all, she looked like she had gone twenty rounds with Shego, instead of the minor tussled she had with her the night before.

With a sly grin, she realized it might look like she had gone twenty round with a certain blond haired young man. Fortunately, she hadn't blown her curfew by too much and the fight itself did make the news, so it wasn't likely her parents would come down on her for doing something with him that wasn't appropriate for a sixteen year-old.

That made her think about that aspect of their new, untested relationship. Under the control of the Moodulator, she had been ready and willing to go through with whatever he wanted to do. Actually, it was more like she _wanted_ to do those things, even if he didn't want to. In the light of day, with her faculties fully under her control (or at least she felt like they were) she was glad the thing had malfunctioned when it did. She was most def not ready for that, though she wouldn't rule it out in the future, even the near-future.

That didn't stop her from wondering what it would be like. She had a general sense of what he was like under that droopy jersey and baggy cargo pants, or at least what he was like about a year and a half earlier. She had 'worn' that body for a couple days, and knowing certain things about him was utterly unavoidable. In every way that counted, she was him for that time, and knowing what certain parts of his body felt like made her wonder how it would be with him.

A little guilt surged through her for thinking that way, but only just a little. Part of her upbringing automatically carried with it a little surge of anxiety. She was taught by her parents and by society that she was too young for that sort of thing, though that idea warred with her intellectual knowledge that she was biologically ready for it, and, as far as she knew, emotionally ready for it as well.

Sitting down in front of her mirror, she started brushing out the tangles in her hair. Actually, she needed a really good shower, but that would take time and the quicker she was ready, the quicker she could be on her way to his house, and the quicker she could get there, the sooner she would be back with him, this time simply to be with him, instead of just having him by her as a sidekick.

Then she glanced at the clock on her round nightstand. It was only a little past eight, and being Saturday, Ron would likely be getting ready to go to Temple with his parents. That meant it would be getting close to lunch time before he was back and free to be with her. For half a moment she thought about taking a quick shower and getting her parents to drive him over to his house to go with him, but she dismissed the idea, at least for the moment. As much as she liked him at that moment, sometimes his religion seemed so alien to her. It was like he became a different person when he put on his yarmulke and started reciting prayers in Hebrew. She wasn't much of a church-going person herself, though she technically considered herself Christian. Faith was not a big part of her life, since she more readily believed in what science could explain. Her parents called it being an empiricalist, and they were pretty much the same.

She bit her lower lip and went back to brushing her long hair. Being with Ron would have to wait for a bit, though she would be waiting on his doorstep for when he came home. At least then he would have reverted back to just regular Ron, and not Jewish Ron and she could spend the first full day with him as her boyfriend.

That brought the smile back. They were going to do all the things she normally saw others doing. Walking hand-in-hand, smiling at each other, staring into each other's eyes like nothing else in the world mattered to them. She could wrap her arms around his soft, slightly pudgy waist and hold him close to her petite frame. She could trace the edges of his big ears and she could kiss him again, just like she had done the night before. He wasn't very good at it, but it felt good anyway, like it was the right thing to do, and with practice, he would certainly get better at it. It almost seemed like the only thing he knew was to simply accept the kiss, and when he tried to return it, it was like he was kissing some inanimate object, like a steak or something. Oh well, at least he smelled good, so long as he hadn't been into a beany Chimirito.

Kim made a mental note to pick up a tin of strong peppermints just in case their day together took them to his favorite eatery.

* * *

Ron stared at the ceiling, his hands propped behind his head, listening as the car pulled out of the driveway. Just as he had over countless previous Saturdays, he begged off going to Temple with his parents. Somehow over the last months it just hadn't seemed proper going with them, as if that part of his life didn't have as much meaning as it should.

Normally he would sit there in his room, puzzling over why that was so. Back when he was thirteen, it meant so much for him to go. His Bar Mitzvah was actually one of the high points of his life, and seeing Kim sitting there with his parents as he read to the congregation from the Torah made him swell with pride. Yet, seemingly from the moment Rabbi Katz had signed his certificated (two years later than he should have) he started drifting away from it. It was like being a Jew wasn't as big a part of his identity for some reason.

That Saturday morning he wasn't thinking about that. Instead he was puzzling over the last twenty-four hours. In that short space of time it was like his whole world had turned upside down. It started out just like any other, with him running by Bueno Nacho to pick up a couple breakfast Nacos to share with Kim, then going completely haywire with her chasing him all over the school before finally tricking him into asking her to the Middleton Days festival.

Everything had seemed so clear when he went to pick her up for that date. His mind was made up and he was going to set her straight about the nature of their relationship. In fact, he had even gone so far as to tell her they should 'just be friends.'

Simply thinking about those words made him wince. They ranked right up there with 'we need to talk' as some of the most jarring in the English language, at least between any kind of couple. But he was resolved to that, and was ready to accept what would come by him saying it. What they had as best friends was too important to him, and he felt like their connection would have eventually recovered from the fallout that would result from that kind of blow.

Instead, the evening ended with him not only going back on that decision, but agreeing to be Kim's boyfriend.

He had a girlfriend!

That thought alone gave him the spilly willies far more than a room full of crawling bugs. It scared him more than a squad of black-clad monkey ninjas. It sent cold chills down his spine and made him feel like the meager snackage that he automatically munched on after coming home the night before would make a return appearance.

What on Earth had he done?

It wasn't like he didn't want a girlfriend. What normal guy his age didn't? Not to mention, he did have fantasies that involved Kim. Well, to be honest with himself, he had normal male fantasies about a good many of the attractive girls at his school, as well as some with those who were not quite up to the level of the cheerleader squad. Those were the girls he thought he actually stood a chance of some day wooing, perhaps to the point they would go to the prom with him…as well as…other things.

Basically, he was a normal, hormonally challenged sixteen year-old boy.

But Kim? He was actually at the beginning of a relationship…with Kim? Fantasies aside, not in his wildest dreams did he think he had any kind of chance of actually being with her.

He went over the events of the night before, over and over in his mind, trying to figure out exactly what had happened. All night he had been doing so. It wasn't like he was actually going to get any real sleep in that sitch.

Somehow he knew what he should have been doing was thinking about how great he had it, about little things like the kissing, or perhaps the little glimpse of the lacy, naughty bit of underclothing she had given him. Not that he had seen anything he shouldn't have except the lace itself, but that she had been willing to show him that in the first place, not in just a juvenile 'you show me yours, I'll show you mind' sort of way, but because she really wanted him to see it, because she knew the effect it would have on him.

Instead all he could think about was how impossible it was going to be to measure up. Kim had high standards for everything, for herself, and for everyone around her. Yet every time she had sought to improve him, it had been an abject failure.

That was something he just couldn't abide. He knew he wasn't handsome. In fact, he knew he was probably just about the homeliest boy around. He was short, thin, bird-chested and not very graceful by any stretch of the imagination. Even when his come-and-go Mystical Monkey Power decided to rear its head, it looked like sheer luck on his part he could actually do anything.

In short, he knew, somehow, some way, he was going to screw things up, and it wasn't going to be pretty.

What was he going to do? The night and early morning had gone by in a blur and now the brilliant sun was fully over the hill outside his bedroom window. It was Saturday morning and Kim would be up, ready to spend the day with her boyfriend, and no matter how much she said she would not, her natural Kimness would try to make the most of it.

He could just see it then. She would show up on his doorstep with every moment of the day planned out. They would get on his battered scooter and ride to the park. There would be cotton candy or something from the little truck that parked there, or perhaps they would take in an early movie. Then they would go to their usual booth at Bueno Nacho, where she would get a grande-sized slurpster and put two straws in it to share.

Very likely she would want to kiss him again, and as badical as the thought of their faces mashed together like that was, he was scared out of his senses knowing just how bad he must be at it. He could just picture their lips meeting and him doing something stupid, like trying something with his tongue, or their teeth bashing together and getting chipped. The thought of her having to go face her parents, after all the money they spent on her orthodonture and explaining how her smile was damaged by the affections of her boyfriend.

There was the word again. Boyfriend. Why did he say that the night before, when his mind was so made up that he wouldn't let it happen? What was he going to do when she got there, her green eyes gleaming with anticipation, waiting for him to say a certain phrase.

At least there was one thing he was clear about in his mind. He loved Kim. The only problem was, he didn't know how to say that, or even what it meant exactly. She was the best thing in his life and he wanted to spend his whole life with her, but love? There seemed to be a certain finality that would come when he said "I love you" to her, and it was something he knew he wasn't quite ready for.

Maybe it wasn't so much that he loved her, but he didn't know if he was 'in love' with her. Somehow there was a difference between male fantasies about being with her, and actually living those dreams because of how he felt about her. It wasn't the physical desire, it was the more spiritual aspect of it. It was the deeper meaning of being with somebody you loved because of that love, not because his body was saying he should do that.

He also knew he would probably screw that part up as well.

Deep in his heart he knew he wasn't up to the task. Something was going to go wrong and they were both going to crash and burn because of it. There was a definite intensity to their feelings and that made the danger all the greater.

It really was something he just couldn't face.

Thinking back to that moment when he spilled his guts to Steve Barkin, he realized what he had to do. In fact, even though he knew that it was the real Kim he was thinking about and not Moodulated Kim, the situation really had not changed.

This was going to be hard, perhaps harder than it had been the night before, but he was going to have to do it.

Ron Stoppable was going to have to break up with Kim Possible. It was the best thing for both of them.

* * *

Kim Possible and all related characters © Disney 


	3. MotherDaughter Talk

**_There's Still Fireworks_: Part 3**

**A Little Mother/Daughter Talk**

* * *

Kim gathered her freshly washed hair up into a scrunchie, pulling it back from her face as she considered the vast array of clothing hanging in her open closet. Not being one for sitting around in a bath-robe, she instead put on her usual night-clothes, a spaghetti strap camisole and a pair of sweat pants. That would have to do until she actually decided on what she was going to wear that morning. On the one hand, she wanted to wow her new sweetheart. On the other, she didn't want to go as far over the top as she had the night before.

For some odd reason she even considered breaking out her old outfit of a green tank top and periwinkle capris. Actually, over perhaps the last year, she had actively tried not to wear that combination. Bonnie may have been deliberately trying to be hurtful when she mocked Kim about wearing it every day, but she was actually right.

Still, as she stared at the array of mostly pastel clothing hanging there, she came to the conclusion that she was not the most feminine dresser in the world. In all, she owned three honest-to-goodness dresses, and one of those was now sitting on the bed, ready for a little TLC and a bottle of woolite before it was going to be worn again.

The other two were not exactly what she want to wear for Ron that day. One, a long, navy dress, was pretty much relegated to more formal functions and it looked perfectly good on her…only, it was the same dress she had worn when she went out with Josh Mankey, and somehow wearing that for her new boyfriend didn't sit to well with her.

That left the last dress. It was most def **not** going to be worn by her that day, or any day for that matter. Her Nana certainly meant well, but the green dress had frills in all the wrong places, and what's more, it must have been made for her when she was ten. If it was small enough to fit one of Monty Fiske's monkey ninjas, it was way too small for her.

Perhaps if she has some tall white go-go boots…

She shuddered slightly at the thought.

Still, she didn't really want her first day as part of a couple to be spent in pants. Nana was right about that at least. Any other day of they year they were completely practical. For Ron she wanted to be sexy, and in her mind, that meant something with a skirt.

There was her rust colored mini-skirt, but that was for fall, and the fashion police would roast her for wearing it in early spring.

Sighing, she sat down on the end of her bed, realizing for the first time she had a visitor.

"Well?"

Kim's Mom was halfway through the opening in her floor that served as the main entrance of her loft, casually leaning on the edge.

"Mom, I know you and Dad are upset I got in a little late last night."

"Kimmie, honestly, I don't care so much about that. Your father might, but I think I can work on him, especially considering the circumstances."

"Circumstances? I don't…"

"I'm talking about the fight with Dr. Drakken and Shego, Kimmie, unless there's another 'circumstance' your father and I aren't aware of."

"No, no! It was just a date-date, we didn't…we just didn't!" Kim stammered, suddenly holding her crème yellow peasant top to her chest as if she were less modestly covered.

"I never said you did. It's just, the way you went on about how it really was a _date-date _ and not just another one of your _not-a-date-dates _with Ronald, one might jump to certain conclusions about how the night might have gone differently, your arch-foe appearing notwithstanding. I take it, considering your mood, that things went well with the two of you last night?"

"Spankin!" Kim twirled around the room again, mentally replaying the events of the latter part of their date, her active mind already planning out what would be their first full, honest date that night.

"I also take it that Ron didn't go through with what he was planning, then." She sat down on the edge of the opening, looking squarely at her daughter.

"Huh?"

"Your teacher, Mr. Barkin called and said Ronald had some silly notion in his head that the two of you were actually dating and that he had this equally silly idea that for some reason he had to break up with you. Imagine the poor man's reaction when I told him that the two of you actually were going out together. I suppose the rest was just nerves on Ronald's part."

Kim considered for a moment what she was going to say. The news coverage pretty much centered on the fact Drakken was there to steal what was actually a quite harmless laser, and not the fact she had pretty well assaulted Ron under the influence of a hyper-charged moodulator. Finally, she came to the decision that it was pointless keeping the whole truth from her parents.

"Weeeell…actually he did break up with me, but it's a long story."

Kim's Mom crossed her arms. "I'm off from the Medical Center and Dr. Guberman is on-call, so I literally have all day. The young woman who came in the house singing to herself and skipping up to her room was not one who had just broken up with someone. She seemed a lot more like someone who had a new boyfriend."

"Well, I do have a new boyfriend, but he did break up with me." She stopped, and fixed her mother with a sly expression. "Mom, don't you think it was a little strange that suddenly, out of the blue, I was going on a date-date with Ron?"

"Actually, I was thinking more along the lines that the two of you had finally come to your senses, but yes, it did seem awfully sudden, not to mention how over-the-top you went with it." She glanced over at the bed, where the little black dress was laying in a heap.

Kim got her purse off her desk and pulled out the cracked remains of the moodulator. "I was going to give this to GJ to check it out. I so wasn't going to let Dr. Bortel have it back, after what it did to me."

The elder Possible woman took the device and studied it. Even with her expertise as a brain surgeon, she really couldn't make heads or tails of it, since it really looked like nothing more than a green button with small metal prongs around the outside edge.

"What does this have to do with you suddenly wanting to put on a dress that your father is wondering exactly how you got it into this house without his knowing about it?"

"Long story short, that thing made me think I was crushing on Ron."

Suddenly apprehensive, she stared at the broken mood controller again. "Controlled? How?"

"Let's just say that when I said certain kinds of science were ferociously unethical, I wasn't even scratching the surface. I think Dr. Bortel has crossed over to the 'mad science' side."

"So you're not actually in love with Ronald?"

That stopped Kim short. "I…of course I love Ron. How could I not?"

"Kimmie, there is a big difference between the obvious kind of love you and Ronald have always shared, and the kind of love that would make him your significant other. That's why we say love and 'in love,' or the more cautious way you teens have of describing it. Like-like, isn't it?"

"Yeah, I guess you could say I like-like Ron now, but even though that thing was controlling my emotions, it got me to thinking. Could it be the guy I really wanted was right beside me all the time? Mom, I think I love him, but I just don't know."

"You seem to like-like him enough that you're having a clothing crisis about him. That's never happened before."

Kim made a slightly rude noise. "Next you're going to tell me Ron would like me in a burlap sack. So not. He might be the sweetest guy on the planet and maybe, just maybe this new relationship will make him think of me first, I don't think he'll stick around too much if I let myself go."

"Honestly, I was going to say exactly that. Kim, Ron cares deeply for you. I don't think calling him your boyfriend is going to change that. Remember last Christmas?"

"How can I forget. What do you think? Can I get away with this combo?" She held the mini-skirt and the peasant blouse up to her body.

"The skirt, yes, that shirt, well, I know it's comfortable, but as far as Ron is concerned, I think the only plus would be that he might want to start playing with the laces on it now, if he already hasn't been."

"Mom, this is Ron we're talking about here."

"And he's not a guy, he's Ron. Honey, face it, Ron is a male of the species and you are a very pretty, and dare I say, sexy young woman. If he hasn't been thinking about it, at least privately, I think I need to do a little brain-exam on him, if you know what I mean."

She got up from the edge of the door and sat down beside Kim on the bed. "Kimmie, this changes things. I know Ron has been your best friend for almost as long as you can remember, but it's not going to be the same. You're heading down a different path now and it's not going to be just the two of you doing all the things you did before with just a little hand-holding and kissing thrown into the mix."

"Why shouldn't it? Ron and I have always enjoyed doing things together. Heck, sometimes it feels like we've been dating for a long time."

"Ron night?"

"Well, yeah, but not officially."

Kim's Mom put her hand on her daughter's back and rubbed slowly. "I certainly hope the two of you stay best friends. There's a bond between you that would be a shame if it was ever broken, but you have to think about the future now. He just might be the one. Now, granted, you're a little young to be searching for that quite yet, but that's up to you to decide. On the other hand, you have to consider that this might not work out, and that's where the really hard work will come if it doesn't."

Kim frowned slightly. "I've already broken up with him once, I don't think I want to do that again. This time it would be real."

"I know that, honey. Let's not dwell on that, though. You're at the start of a relationship, and now is the time to think about all the good that can come of it."

Kim nodded toward the closet. "I've got some major shopping to do, it seems."

Her mother shook her head, smiling. "Since when did you need an excuse to go shopping. In fact, that's something the two of you could do together."

"Ron shopping? Puh-lease."

"I'm sure he'll be glad to, just like you'll be glad to do some of the things he likes."

Kim made that noise again. "Cage bats and video games? Next thing you're going to tell me is I need to go to J. P. Bearymore's with him."

She visibly grimaced at the thought. Neither woman could stand the place, and it had nothing to do with her father getting hurt a couple years earlier. "I don't think such drastic measures are called for yet, though I do like the idea of you going to the batting cages with him."

"You make it sound like what I'm supposed to do is just what we've always done, but with a little kissing and other stuff thrown in."

"Other stuff?"

"Mom!" Kim's cheeks blushed crimson.

"It's going to come up. I know you're not the most experienced young woman when it comes to dating, but like I said, Ron is a guy after all, and one way of looking at kissing is that it's a prelude to something else."

Kim frowned again. The thoughts of what she wanted to do with Ron under the influence of the moodulator had been clear, yet sitting on her bed with her mother talking about it, all that clarity seemed to slip away. Once again, thoughts like that were being relegated into something that was dirty.

"I…I just can't think of him like that."

"You did kiss him?"

"Well…yes."

"And I'm sure you have thought about it."

"Mom, I've thought about getting my nose pierced, I've thought about getting a tattoo. That doesn't mean I want to, I just logically thought about what might happen if I did."

"So you don't want to have sex with him?"

"I didn't say that. I just haven't thought _that_ much about it. I've barely even kissed him by this point, let alone…"

"That's what I wanted to hear. I've taught you enough that you know all the mechanics, and you know the dangers. Even if you used protection, that's not one hundred percent guaranteed. I'm certain, as smart as you are, you'll make good, healthy decisions. What I am warning you about is that it may come up, sooner or later between the two of you. It's normal and natural and it's nothing to be ashamed of. It's how you act on those impulses, whether they're yours or his that means if you're being good kids."

"You think Ron's going to want…that?"

The older redhead's eyebrows went up. "Oh, I'm sure he does, more than you can imagine. Raging teen hormones aren't just an old wive's tale. That's why, as parents, we have to make sure we've taught you about right and wrong, and when it's right and wrong to give in."

"When is it right, Mom?"

"If I had my druthers, the night after the two of you walk down the aisle, but I need to be realistic. What I do know is now _isn't_ the right time. Kissing is fine, though I have a sneaking suspicion your father wouldn't be fine with _too_ much of that. Just, if Ron gets it in his head to try something."

Kim shook her head. "No worries there. It's not like he'd be able to…"

"Not what I'm getting at, Kimmie. I don't think Ron would _ever_ try to force you to do something. What worries me is that, somewhere along the road you might be tempted to give in because you think its necessary because you love him. That's a far stronger pull than you might imagine, especially if your own teen hormones kick in as well."

"You're still not telling me when it is right." Kim said plainly.

"I don't have an easy answer for you. There could come a point when the two of you are ready and you're sure you're in love with each other. For now, why don't we settle on a promise that you'll wait at least until you're eighteen."

"But that's like…forever!"

Her mother arched one eyebrow once more. "Now you're making me think the two of you are a lot further along than just kissing."

"No." Kim pleaded.

"Good. Now, enough of this mother/daughter talk stuff. We need to get you dressed, unless you want to go see him in your PJs."

"Nothing wrong with what I've got on. He's seen me in these plenty."

She got up and headed towards the closet, but instead of reaching for any of the hanging clothes, she pulled a box out of the bottom. "Remember, Kim, I said everything has changed. I'm afraid that one of those changes has to do with you behaving like a proper young lady. For one thing, it's not right for him to just be in your room at all hours. If he sees you like that now, it's going to have a very different meaning. Now, let's take a look at some of the other things Nana has sent for you."

Kim cringed as he mother opened the box and started pulling the sun dress out.

* * *

Kim Possible and all related characters © Disney 


	4. Just Call Me Angel, of the Morning

**_There's Still Fireworks_: Part 4**

* * *

**Just Call Me Angel, of the Morning****  
**

* * *

The sun was starting to climb fairly high in the bright, clear spring sky. Ron was so preoccupied with his thoughts and his plans that he hadn't noticed how nice the weather was outside. He was so intent, he even forgot to change out of his pajamas at first. It took Rufus tugging on his pants leg to make him realize greeting Kim for any reason by that point in sleepwear might be taken any one of several incorrect ways. 

It was odd enough realizing that such things were actually important now.

Eventually he tired of pacing the living room, sitting down on the edge of the couch, thinking to himself. Things were not as clear to him by that point, though that might have had more to do with his lack of sleep the night before than the quandary that he faced.

Thoughts of how their meeting would proceed were interspersed with images of Kim that he had never considered so intently before. Suddenly her long, flippy red hair seemed so soft, so enticing. As frightened as he was about the prospect of their relationship taking a nose dive, he still wanted to run his fingers through it, to bury his face in it and breath the scent of whatever unidentifiable floral shampoo she used.

He thought about her wearing that same outfit she wore almost constantly when they were sophomores. There were certain details that seemed to demand his attention much more than they ever had before. Like the gap that almost always formed at the top of her pants. There were times he caught himself looking, just to see if he could get a peek at what she had on under them. More often than not, it was just an illusion that anyone could actually see anything. The gap came because of her muscular hips and her tiny waist. That didn't mean he never got a glimpse of a lacy elastic band from time to time. Then there was the fact she liked wearing the crop tops. As though he'd never realized it before, Kim's belly button was…sexy.

There was also the fact he was aware Kim only rarely wore a certain other article of clothes. He never quite understood that particular quirk in her personality. In his particular brand of logic, it would make more sense for a young woman as modestly built as she was to want to wear one, especially one of the newer ones that made the most of what she had to offer.

On top of all that, he found himself wondering what she looked like naked. That last thing made him a little ashamed, especially since he was so attuned to thinking of her as just a friend, but being a teenaged male, he just couldn't help himself. Along with that mild shame came a little bit of beating himself up for blowing the chance he had with her…that way.

No, that was sick and wrong. As much as he would like that, it wouldn't have been Kim. Even then, as he sat there, waiting to see what would become of the day, he knew that just being her boyfriend, at least until she got there, would only allow him to kiss her. That's all. They were still Kim and Ron, best friends since their earliest childhood. The only thing that had really changed was that they could add kissing and hand-holding to what really had been dates of a sort over the last couple years.

He almost wanted to cry thinking that he was going to end a chance to do even that.

"Think I should have talked to Dad about this?" He asked Rufus, who was sitting attentively on the coffee table, aware of just how troubled his human was.

All the naked mole rat could muster was a confused shrug. He was just as far into uncharted territory as Ron was.

"I guess you're right, buddy. He'd probably just go right back into _the talk_ and you know how that turned out the last time." Both of them shuddered at the thought. It seemed his father was just as clueless as he was about women, making him wonder how the older man had ever gotten together with his mother in the first place. That line of thinking took him to another place he didn't want to go, so he went back to thinking about Kim.

Kim…his _girlfriend. _Kim, who just might want more than just kissing, as inexplicably as she wanted to start a deeper relationship with him. He tried to think of how she might react to what he had to tell her, but only managed to picture her once again in those loose capris and that short, short tank top. He imagined his arm wrapping around her waist, reaching up and touching the part of her back where a strap should have been.

The memory of them kissing was still very strong in his mind, a memory he wanted to hold onto much more than he wanted to end things. He wanted to kiss her again. He wanted to hold her small hand, twining his fingers with hers.

All in all, Ron Stoppable was a very confused young man that morning.

Sitting there in the living room, another horrible thought occurred to him. It was something Kim had said the night before. What if she was the one who came to her senses in the light of day.

That tableau played out in his mind. She would show up, give him a little kiss on his cheek, sit down beside him and say those horrible words. "Ron, we have to talk." Kim was a smart girl, perhaps one of the smartest he knew, and the further she got from that moment as the effects of the Moodulator wore off, the more she would come to realize just what a bad decision she had made. How could she call an ugly, dumb, lazy slob like him her boyfriend? It just didn't make sense for the two of them to be together.

The idea that he was about to be dumped by her swept away his angst about dumping her. Why was that so horrible, he wondered? It would accomplish the same thing, and she would be a lot less upset than if he was doing the dumping.

Oh, that was pretty obvious. He would be the one getting dumped, and no matter how logical that was, it was still going to hurt.

Why did he even want to be in a relationship with anyone? He had no illusions about who and what he was. Even if it was some other girl who was nowhere near as pretty as Kim, they would always come to their senses and realize just how wrong it was to be together with him. He was the one who was going to get dumped, again and again, if he was so lucky as to even start a relationship with someone.

No! He couldn't let things get to that point. Even if it was a little (well, a lot) selfish, he was going to have to be the one doing the dumping. He just couldn't deal with that kind of hurt, on top of having to do that to Kim. If there was any way they were going to salvage their friendship from that point, he was the one who was going to have to do it.

Ron's heart just about jumped out of his chest as the front door swung open. He knew it was too soon for his parents to be back from temple, and there was only one other person in the world who would enter their home like that.

Steeling his courage, he looked up…

…and his jaw hit the floor for the second time in two days.

Kim was standing right inside the door, the sun behind her, creating a golden halo around her. The light caused her body to silhouette inside the dress she was wearing, revealing every curve of her lithe form.

The dress itself he had never seen before. Kim's closet had no doors, so he had a pretty good idea of what was hanging there, and there definitely had not been any pink white and yellow sun dresses hanging there. The style itself was timeless, the top made of an elastic material that clung to her. Two thin straps threatened to fall down over her shoulders, and the slightly billowy skirt ended just past her knees.

It was as if an angel was standing there in his doorway. An angel who was smiling as if she had discovered the secret to total happiness.

"Are you just going to sit there, or are you going to say hello to your girlfriend properly?" She asked sweetly.

Without consciously thinking about doing so, he crossed the room and engulfed her in a ferocious hug. The fantasy became reality as he buried his face in her considerable mane, inhaling deeply, not caring what kind of flower she smelled like, only that it was some kind of floral scent, one he'd only noticed in passing so many times before. He could feel her body against his, so warm and soft, despite the fact she was actually a great deal stronger than he was. It was a lot closer hug than she had ever given him in the past, where only their shoulders met.

He wasn't quite sure where the hug ended and the kiss began, but all the certainty about how their meeting that morning would progress was thrown out the window in that moment.

Finally, they broke the kiss, still holding each other close as Kim looked into his eyes. "Wow, it's like you've been waiting all night for that."

"Yeah, KP, I've been thinking about it…a lot. Kim, you're so…"

Her grin got even wider as she slipped out of his arms, twirling around so the skirt billowed slightly. All he could concentrate on was the shape of her legs revealed by the bright sunlight. "You like?"

"That dress is badical, KP. Where'd you get it? The only place open this time of the morning is…uh, well, Smarty Mart."

"It's one of the dresses Nana sent for me to wear. Mom picked it out for me."

"She's…wow, you're so beautiful, but I thought you weren't a 'sundresser.'"

She twirled around again, losing her balance slightly, forcing Ron to catch her about the waist. She snuggled her back against him, holding her hands over his arms.

"You know, I never realized how much I'd like this." She said, closing her eyes, letting him hold onto her that way.

"What, wearing one of Nana's dresses?"

"No, silly, having somebody hold onto me like this." She nuzzled him for a moment, until they both realized they were standing there with the door open, sharing a bit of a private moment.

Kim disengaged herself from his arms again, gently shutting the door, cutting off the golden sunlight, but leaving them alone in the foyer of his home. She took his hands and leaned closer to kiss him again, but stopped short, a look of concern in her eyes.

"What's wrong, Ronnie?" she asked, brushing his hair out of his face slightly.

He jumped slightly, his plans coming back to him in a rush. Only, in that moment, his resolve was utterly and completely destroyed. The sight of her like that, dressing that way for him and him alone made such thoughts unwanted and seemingly impossible. Then it occurred to him that he hadn't slept a wink.

"I kinda couldn't sleep, so I sat up watching TV." He lied. The television itself hadn't been turned on, save maybe his father watching the early news shows before they left for the services.

"Baby, you need to take better care of yourself." The smile returned as her eyes narrowed slightly. "Does that mean we're all alone here this morning?"

"Uh, yeah, but I don't…"

She cut him off by wrapping her arms around his shoulders again and pulling him in for another kiss, one that lasted longer than the first, ending with her lightly tugging on his bottom lip with her teeth.

"Oh yes, I can definitely get used to that. Have you told them yet?"

"Told them? Oh, you mean about us?"

"No, I mean that Bonnie and Brick are going to elope. Of course I mean about us. Don't tell me you haven't told them."

Ron's head tilted to the side. "I really haven't had much of a chance."

"Well, surely they figured something when we went to the fair last night."

He found he suddenly couldn't look her directly in the eyes. "I dunno, KP. When I went out I kinda just said I was going to the fair with you. I didn't mention it being a date, so they probably think it's just like anything else we do together. I just spent the night thinking about stuff."

Kim arched an eyebrow. "I thought you said you were watching TV. So, what kind of…stuff were you thinking about, cause kissing is as far as I'm willing to go right now."

"No, no, no, not that, I…well, yeah, I did think about that a little. I can't help it, I'm a guy."

"What other stuff were you thinking about? If it's what we're going to do for dates, I'm so not worried about that. I know between the two of us I'm the only one with any kind of income, such as it is, so if I end up paying for our dates, it's no big."

"Well…" He caught himself before his hand could reach the back of his neck. A random thought popped into his mind wondering why exactly he did that all the time, but that was quickly shoved aside.

She took his chin, forcing him to meet her eyes. That was all it took.

"KP, we've got to talk."

Her expression didn't change, but he could see the concern in her eyes. Nothing good ever came from that phrase.

Ron took her hand and led her to the couch, sitting down beside her, with about a foot separating the two of them.

"Kim, you said last night that maybe by morning you'd come to your senses. I can't help but think that's going to happen, sooner or later anyway."

"What are you saying? That I don't know what I want to do?"

"Well, maybe. We don't have any way of knowing if that thing did something permanent to you, and eventually you're going to see me for what I really am."

"Ron, I can do that already. I don't know where all this may be going, but I do know this; If I want a boyfriend, I want it to be somebody I love."

"You…you love me?"

"Of course I do, silly. I don't know if it's the we're-going-to-be-together-the-rest-of-our-lives-and-have-kids kinda love yet, but I do love you."

"Oh, you mean the 'we're just friends' kind of love."

"Yes, but there's something more." She leaned over and kissed him on the lips. It wasn't the same kind of passionate kiss she had just given him at the door, but what it lacked in energy, it made up for in tenderness. "See, I liked that. I liked it so much I want to do it more. Am I 'in love' with you? I don't know yet, but the way I figure it is if I love you as my best friend and I like doing that with you, why fight it. Maybe that's what true love is and we just don't see it yet."

"But I'm not exactly what I'd consider boyfriend material for you, KP. You deserve the best."

She reached out and put a hand on his cheek. The touch was so warm, almost making him swoon right there on the living room couch. "Ronnie, there's a whole lot more to being 'boyfriend material' than just being a pretty face. That's one of the reasons I lost interest in Josh. To be perfectly honest with you, he's kinda…boring. I finally realized, really, just about the time Bonnie pointed out he was palling around with Tara that all I ever really saw in him was his looks. Sure, he's sweet and nice and a gentleman, but deep down inside I never saw anything else in him. Last night it hit me that what I wanted was somebody who I felt something for, and when you boil it right down, you're the one."

"I am?"

"Yes, and Ron, don't sell yourself short."

"Hey, don't bring up the fact you're taller than me!" He protested.

"So not. Stand up…no, face the other way, and take off your shoes."

"Uh, are you sure, my socks are kinda gross."

"Just take them off." She kicked off her own white sneakers, and stood ram-rod straight against his back. Reaching up, she mashed down the poof of her hair, holding her hand up against the back of his head.

Turning back around, he held her hands a little more than an inch apart. "See, you're actually taller than me now. I'm willing to bet by the prom I'm going to have to wear high heels just to stand eye-to-eye with you."

"The…the prom?"

"Of course the prom. Boyfriends take their girlfriends to the prom, you know."

"I, I guess I wasn't thinking that far ahead. It's still more than two months off."

"What, you thinking we won't even make it two months? Let me see, what would make me want to end this before we even get to the prom? You're not seeing somebody on the side that I don't know about, are you? You weren't crushing on somebody when you went to Japan, were you?"

He wasn't expecting that. Images of a girl he really barely knew filled his mind for a moment, making him hesitate. "No, I was only there a week, not like I had time to find a secret girlfriend."

Kim smiled broadly, then stopped herself. "Sorry, Ron, I was thinking how strange it would be for you to have a secret girlfriend, at least secret from me, but that's wrong. If Tara could be interested in you, and I'm going steady with you, there's bound to be others who feel the same way."

"Uh, yeah, sure." He said, rubbing the back of his neck. What on earth was he thinking anyway? He knew Yori for part of a week, he'd known Kim for most of their lives. It wasn't like he wasn't allowed to look, especially since he never even thought his current situation likely or even possible.

"So, we're good?" She asked.

Ron took her hand. "Spankin!" He proclaimed, borrowing her catchphrase.

"Just don't let Dad hear you say that, he might get the wrong idea." She said, closing her eyes and leaning in for another kiss.

* * *

Ron was smiling softly to himself as the bell rang, signaling the end of the final period of the day. He was utterly and totally lost in his thoughts, daydreaming of his new girlfriend waiting for him at their lockers, absently stuffing his books into his backpack. 

He was so into the idea of sneaking a little PDA with her before they got off campus he didn't realize a huge shadow had crossed his desk.

"Stoppable, the bell doesn't dismiss this class, I dismiss this class!" Steve Barkin bellowed, blocking his student from even getting up from his seat.

For half a moment, he considered coming back with the fact the rest of the students had already beat a hasty retreat out the door, but his mind flashed back to all the badical kisses he was going to share with Kim.

"Sure, Mr. B, whatever you say."

That seemed to confuse the large ex-military man. He had been watching Ron throughout the class, taking note that he seemed to be in a whole other world than English Lit. Quickly, though, he got his wits back about himself.

"I saw you daydreaming in class. You know you're on thin ice with the school, Stoppable, and even thinner ice with me. I've been watching you since the first day you walked into this school."

"Hey, if this is about the funny look I gave you, I had my reasons!" Ron protested. He knew all too well it wasn't a look directed at the large substitute teacher, but him trying to recover from Kim reacting to something he did on the way to school that day.

"I don't care about your reasons, all I care about is that you know the material. You know what that means!"

"Extra homework?" Ron said meekly.

"Affirmative. I expect it on my desk by 7 o'clock tomorrow morning."

Ron almost opened his mouth to protest that they wouldn't even unlock the doors until seven thirty, but once again thought the better of it. "Yes sir, Mr. B. I'll have it on your desk first thing in the morning."

Barkin paused again, half expecting some other comeback from the boy. He had another assignment ready to go for the young man, but suddenly found himself without a real reason to give it to him. Cooperation and agreement wasn't what he was expecting from the habitual slacker.

He was still somewhat dumbfounded when Ron stuffed the assignment into his bag and headed out into the hall. He squinted his eyes at the young man as he rounded the corner, heading toward the Junior lockers.

Was that a hickey on Stoppable's neck?

He shook his head, trying to reconcile the image of him with Possible. The two of them were inseparable, but never seemed to want to get romantic, until that surprise visit at his home Friday afternoon.

"Cheese and crackers!" He swore, grabbing the remaining assignments he had prepared. He reached the couple just as Kim put her communications device away.

"Come on, at least we can get out of here before…" Ron jerked a thumb over his shoulder.

Barkin grinned, holding the pages out. "Extra homework!"

* * *

Kim Possible and all related characters © Disney 


	5. The Circle of Life

_**There's Still Fireworks**_**: Part V**

* * *

Kim allowed herself a little grin as she got out of the car. Ron might have been oblivious to the fact their backsides had been touching, but she sure wasn't. How many times had they ridden like that, their bodies touching in such a simple and innocent way and neither had noticed how nice that contact was?

Then again, maybe Ron had noticed. In the back of her mind she hoped he did, but that thought had to be pushed aside. It was time for business, not exploring the bounds of their newly transformed relationship.

"Thanks for the lift, Doctor Pheeny." She said, leaning against the open car door.

"It's the least I could do, after you saved my Cold Fusion project." The aging scientist replied with a genuine smile.

"It was no big. I'm just thankful Wade saved the notes Rufus made when he was super-smart."

"Ah, good times, good times." Ron muttered, wistfully.

"Good times that nearly got you fed to Drakken's piranhas, now come on." She gave his hand a light squeeze before she even realized she had done it, making her wonder how such a display of her affection could happen so automatically, after so many years without.

Ron looked down at their hands, as if he were so utterly amazed by it. He returned the squeeze, and the two of them mounted the steps to the Middleton Train Station. By the time they reached the platform, Kim realized they were still holding hands, and for some reason that didn't bother her in the least, Mission Mode or no.

"That is so cool!" Ron finally let go of her hand, rushing across the platform toward the gleaming passenger train waiting there. It was a perfectly matched set, the cars painted bright white with a broad purple stripe down the sides, matching the sleek engine perfectly. "Looks like for once we're going to be riding in style!"

Kim rolled her eyes. She'd seen the advanced train before, so she was a little non-plussed about it. What good is a high-tech power supply when something so simple as the brake system can break off right in her hands? Still, that wasn't why she was hanging back slightly.

Ron was still standing there, practically drooling over the prospect of riding the high-speed special to the lab hidden in the Rockies, when the horn suddenly blasted. For a moment, he had a dumbfounded look on his face as the engine backed up just a bit to compress the slack in the consist, then slowly started inching forwards. He gawked with his mouth open as it picked up speed, leaving the two of them alone on the platform.

"That's not our ride, Ron." Kim waited a moment, her hands on her hips until the final car of the glittering example of twenty-first rail riding technology slid past them, revealing another train waiting on a siding. "That is."

She would have liked to have been on the other train themselves. It was going the right direction, but it wasn't what her tech guru and friend had been able to arrange for them on short notice. That was the problem with having to rely on favors. The super-train actually cost more to ride than a similar plane ride, and her meager earnings from babysitting wouldn't even pay for a bus ticket. That meant they had to depend on the good graces of others.

Oddly enough, Ron didn't seem to share her disappointment in their actual ride. If anything, he was just as stoked as before.

"A steam engine! Score!"

"Ron, it's old, as in older than our parents…put together." She groaned slightly, knowing they could probably beat the old locomotive on their bicycles. It was sooooo time for her to get a car!

"Yeah, it's old, it's a total classic." He almost skipped up to the puffing engine, examining the wheels, then the boiler. "Nineteen Twenty Five, Baldwin Locomotive works. Simple expansion, Walchaert valve gear. The diamond stack is fake, since it's coal fired. Oh man, this is badical!"

"I'm glad you're impressed. Now can we get on board? They're waiting for us."

"Oh, Mr. Magnifico's Circus! I remember these people!" He stopped, frowning slightly. "Wait, they're not going to make me dress up like a clown again are they?"

"So not. We're just hitching a ride with them on their way to their next stop this time."

He relaxed slightly. "Well good. I don't think I can take Lord Laffington honking that stupid horn in my ears, then switching the bucket of confetti for water again."

Stifling a giggle, Kim climbed into the old, wooden passenger car, then held out her hand to pull her new boyfriend up with her. As soon as they reached the top of the platform, the conductor signaled the engine, which responded with a blast of it's steam whistle as the train lurched forward, causing both of them to grab the back of a seat since it lacked a tenth of the grace the advanced train had displayed while disembarking.

Ron sat down beside Kim, wondering exactly what he was supposed to do. Everything seemed to take on a whole new dimension with her. They had sat together countless times, over practically their whole lives, but never, in all that time, did he actually have to wonder if it would be okay to put his arm around her, or hold her hand, or even gasp put a hand on her thigh. There were so many questions in his head, questions he didn't have the knowledge or experience.

It was one thing if they were 'alone.' That much had been proven during the 'date' they shared Saturday night. Sure, they had spent it just talking at Bueno Nacho, but once they got to the movie, things quickly progressed past that point, and Ron wasn't even sure if they had actually gone to see _Drowsy in Portland_ with her, considering very little of his attention was directed at the actual screen.

Sitting in an old, converted rail car with his long-time best friend/become girlfriend was something else altogether. He wanted desperately to hold her hand, but there was something distinctly different about her when she was wearing the black crop-top and olive cargo pants. He always heard how couples who worked together would behave one way on the job, while behaving like, well, a couple when they weren't.

"How long's this gonna take?" Ron leaned against the seat in front of him, acting like he was suddenly bored. Normally, that's exactly how he would have felt, facing the prospect of yet another long ride to one of their missions. Instead, he was actually looking forward to some uninterrupted time with her.

"About five hours. It's already starting to get dark, so it's going to be pretty late when we get there." Hesitantly she reached out, touching the middle of his back between his shoulder blades. Even through her leather gloves, she could feel his muscles tense up at the sudden, unexpected contact. She spread her fingers slightly, rubbing his back until he relaxed a bit, which wasn't much. Neither of them were quite used to being that way with each other yet, and she didn't know how long it would take for them to become accustomed to it, if 'it' even worked out.

Kim banished that line of thinking from her head. There was nothing wrong with the two of them exploring a more romantic relationship, at least nothing she could think of. It seemed perfectly natural. True, Ron wasn't the best specimen of manhood she could think of, but there were issues beyond just being a hottie to consider.

Sitting back in the seat once more, she tucked her legs up under herself and pulled out her Kimmunicator, linking up with Wade. "You're sure it's Professor Dementor, Wade?"

"One hundred percent Kim. And it looks like you were right! His target is a top-secret research facility." He responded after a long draught from his soda cup.

"Ugh. Isn't it always? Keep me posted, we've got a long ride ahead of us."

"Later, Kim." He took another sip as he signed off. With a sigh, Kim put the Kimmunicator back into her cargo pocket and turned her attention back to Ron.

"Quarter for your thoughts?" She asked, rubbing his shoulder blades again.

Ron sat back, giving her a slight smile. "Oh, just thinking…wait, isn't that supposed to be a penny?"

"Inflation. What are you thinking about?"

He shrugged, looking down at her gloved hands as they settled once more on her lap. "I dunno. Us, maybe. That, and all that extra homework Barkin gave me before we left."

"Ron, has it ever occurred to you that maybe he's trying to make you do better? You really think he's out to get you?"

"KP, you saw him back there at school. He couldn't wait to load me down with the extra stuff. It's just not fair, the rest of the class isn't expected to turn anything else in."

She sighed. "He's the teacher, I guess he can do what he wants to. When are you going to do it? It's going to be real late when we get home." She stopped for a moment to consider exactly how they were going to accomplish that, though Wade almost always come through with a solution.

They both perked up as a large, balding man wearing a jacket with tails made his way toward their seat. "Thanks for the ride, Mr. Magnifico." She chirped, her brightest smile beaming.

"Think nothing of it, Miss Possible." He replied with a slight accent.

Both of them jumped slightly as a woman dropped down over their shoulder, her legs hooked on the luggage rail above the seats. "It's the least we can do. After all, you saved our circus."

"It's no big. When you twisted your ankle, somebody had to fill in on the high wire."

Another shape dropped from above, not speaking, but honking a small horn incessantly.

"Oh, yes. Ahem. Lord Laffington is right. Your friend made a delightful addition to our cavalcade of clowns."

Ron shuddered slightly, remembering his turn as a circus clown. "Did I have to be dressed up like a monkey?"

"Oh no, not the monkey thing again, Ron." Kim moaned.

"Well, it was sick and wrong." He flinched again as the clown appeared over his opposite shoulder. Not knowing how to respond, he just pointed both index fingers at him and grinned, hoping that would hide his nervousness.

The trio of performers left them alone once more, and Ron went back to wondering exactly how he was going to spend the next few hours. He eyed his backpack, which was sitting on the floor at their feet.

"You know, maybe I do need to get this homework done."

She nodded, a little sad that he was choosing the homework over her, but proud none-the-less that he had decided on the wiser course.

Picking up the backpack, he pulled out the assignments. They weren't long, at least individually, but they still represented three times the work the rest of the class were expected to accomplish overnight.

No sooner than he put his pencil to the paper, he was almost blasted out of his seat by Lord Laffington's horn. He shook his head, then glared at the clown, who shrunk away for a moment. In Ron's book, clowns were, as a whole, only slightly better than monkeys.

"I think I'm gonna go back to the baggage car, KP. I can't concentrate with Lord Laffington honking in my ear. I gotta get this homework done for Barkin's class."

"I'll come with. Maybe I can help you and then we'll have some time left over…just for ourselves."

"Coolio." He shouldered the backpack and headed toward the rear. The 'baggage' car was full of props and equipment for the circus, but there was still a little room to spread out on the floor."

Kim pulled a small flashlight out of her equipment belt and held it for him so he could start the assignment. Just as he was about to start, she leaned over and gave him a soft kiss on his cheek.

"I'm proud of you, Ron."

"Why, because I'm such a slacker that he's got to load me up like this?" He said. "Hey, I'm done with number 7. Let's have a little light on number 8."

"I'm just proud of you, that's all. It wasn't that long ago you would have just blown this all off and played solitaire on the Kimmunicator for the whole trip."

He shook his head. "Priorities, KP. We're juniors now, and if I'm gonna get into college at all, I've really got to hunker down. Stupid Barkin."

"Ron, come on, do you really still think Barkin's out to get you?"

He didn't look up, scribbling his answer to the question in the faint light of her flashlight. "I know, Kim. I looked at him funny once in the ninth grade, and he's dogged me ever since."

"A funny look?" She used her free hand to brush some hair off his forehead.

"That's all it took. Some people are just born to battle, KP. Like you and Bonnie. It's the circle of life."

Kim couldn't help but shudder, thinking of the confrontation she had with the snarky cheerleader after she let her fall during practice. If she wasn't in as good a condition as she was, she'd be nursing more than just a bruised ego. Then she noticed something neither had as they entered the car.

"Interesting choice of words."

Ron looked up at her, and she shifted the beam of her light toward a cage that was right behind him. It only took him half a moment to realize there was a large, male lion in that cage.

Maybe it was his sudden movement, jumping to his feet, or the light startled it, or the big cat simply had a sense of humor of its own, but it suddenly swiped at the blond haired, teen…

…ripping his gray cargo pants right off.

* * *

Kim Possible and all related characters © Disney 


	6. Time To Go Upside!

_**There's Still Fireworks**_**: Part VI**

**Time To Go Upside! **

* * *

"Will you please hold still!" Drakken growled, holding the large pair of bent-tip tweezers over Shego's neck.

"I am holding still. Just get that damned thing off my neck before it starts working again." She snarled right back at him, holding her copious hair to one side so he could reach the button-like device. "Just grab a hold of it and yank it off. I'm a big girl, I can take a little pain."

"It's not that simple, Shego. According to my crypto-scanner, the nano-filaments are embedded deep in your skin. If I simply yank it off, there may be repercussions. Perhaps I should scan it again…"

Shego grabbed his hand, growling. "No, you won't. The last time you scanned me with it you set it off again. I'm not in the mood to spend the next three hours crying my eyes out just because I have split ends."

"Are you sure that is why you were crying?" He asked, adjusting his magnifying goggles as he considered the Moodulator embedded in her neck.

"What's that supposed to mean?" She turned back around, pulling her raven locks aside once more so he could have a clearer view.

"What I mean is that you were so upset that I was not returning the feelings this device was causing in you."

She groaned. "Get a grip, Dr. D. I wasn't upset by that, I was just sore because we'd managed to run all the way to Upperton by the time it shorted out and we had a really long walk back to your saucer from there since nobody would give us a lift. Then we had to spend the night at the Middleton lair since it was too late to fly back to the island, and the only thing I had to wear besides a sweaty jumpsuit was a pair of coveralls. I'd have been ticked off even if you didn't make that thing start up again."

"Oh." he slumped slightly, out of her field of vision, turning his concentration back to his task. Taking a deep breath, he hooked the point of his tweezers under it and gently pulled.

"OW! Hey, watch it, Doc. That's my skin."

"I thought you said you were a big girl. Now be still."

"Just yank it off fast, like a bandage. Get it over with."

He snarled back at her. "I'm trying to, I don't…" He took a sharp breath as the face of the Moodulator lit up, displaying a harsh, green scowling face.

"Mommy." Was all he could squeak out as he backed away from her, shedding his goggles and dropping the tweezers.

"What now?" She groaned, her hand going back to her neck.

Slowly, he emerged from behind the counter. "You…you're not angry?"

"I'm ticked as hell, Doc, but I'm not about to blast you…unless you don't get this thing off-a me!"

"Hmmm, must not be working correctly then." Slowly he approached her again, dabbing at the edge of it where a tiny blot of blood had appeared.

"You mean it's on?" She twisted partly around, glaring at him.

"It lit up."

"Just get it off me before it really starts working and I do something stupid."

"Like crawling across the table making pussycat noises at me?"

"Among others. Just get this over with!" She pointed at the device with a claw tipped finger. "Oh, give me that." She yanked the tweezers out of his hand and clumsily gripped it, pulling furiously. Tiny, fine wires slowly emerged from her skin before retracting into the metallic claws that were holding it there.

Grinding her teeth against the pain, she finally succeeded in removing it, throwing both it and the tweezers aside while she covered the raw spot with her gloved hand.

"Hold on, let me make sure you didn't leave anything behind." He picked up the hand-held scanning device and gave her the once over.

"I'm fine, Doc…just, let me be for a while, Okay?"

"Whatever." He picked up his tools and stalked off across the main cavern of the lair.

Once he was out of sight, Shego knelt down and picked up the green and black button, turning it over a couple times in her palm using her fingertip. Almost automatically, she made her way back to her bedroom, sitting on the end of her divan bed, staring at it, as if it would come to life and bury its little claws in her flesh once more.

Without realizing it, she picked up a strip of black and white pictures from her nightstand. The last one was of her pouncing on Drakken, apparently kissing him though their faces were out of frame. Her memory of that day were not as crystal clear as she would have liked, but she still remembered that particular moment.

The feelings had seemed real to her, and somewhere deep inside, that was scarier than she was used to dealing with. Was the crush all Moodulator, or was she harboring feelings for her employer?

No. That was just stupid. Drakken was her boss. On top of that, he was significantly older than her and not all that good looking to boot. How could she like him, yet alone be in love with him? Yeah, maybe he was right when he said they were some kind of evil family, but that didn't mean there could or even should be any romantic inclinations between them.

Staring at the picture, she wondered if that was right. One thing she remembered clearly was that she felt somehow complete when she was kissing him. That wasn't something she was prone to doing at all. Sure, she had been with random hot guys, but kissing wasn't part of the bargain, as if that was somehow reserved for something deeper than a short-term (as in one-night) fling.

Frowning, she wondered what else she might have done during the cloudy period while she was under the Moodulator's spell. There was the 'Breakipoo' in the park…ice cream at the lair…their 'evil date'…

…that had to be it. Certainly, if she remembered kissing him so clearly, she would remember if they had done anything else. Halfway through breathing a sigh of relief, she caught herself.

Would that have been so bad?

"Ew!" She said aloud, igniting both her hands, incinerating the Moodulator and the strip of photos. The remains of the latter dropped to the stone floor, only the top part showing them kissing remaining, slowly being consumed by the green flames.

* * *

Drakken looked over his shoulder as he entered a room he used as his private study. Shego was long gone, and most of his henchmen had been sent home for the evening, leaving him pretty much alone in the lair. Perfect!

Opening a laptop computer, he called up a complicated set of schematics. He may have dropped out of the Middleton Institute of Science and Technology before graduation, but he still had gained a tremendous amount of knowledge from his years there, and, despite being utterly insane and often quite clueless about a great many things, he had more than enough intelligence to understand the theoretical science underlying the technology.

Slowly, a very large grin spread across his cerulean jowls, displaying huge, perfectly white teeth.

* * *

"Kim, how many times to I have to say I'm sorry?" Ron pleaded as he tried untangling the coil of ropes he was carrying over his shoulder.

"Just drop it, Ron. I forgave you. It's not big, really."

She pulled her Kimmunicator out and linked up with Wade. "You sure they're inside?"

"As much as I can be. I'm having trouble tracking them now because of the security at the lab, but I did intercept a report that they have lost contact with two of the sentries. Dementor and his henchmen are definitely inside."

Kim nodded, pulling her grappler with one hand, stuffing the omni-device back into her pocket with the other. "Ready, Ron?"

"Just a second…YIPE!" He quickly squelched his scream as he was reeled to the top of the building by the scruff of his mission shirt. Of course, he had his own grappler, but since he was already on his spare pair of pants, Kim wasn't willing to take a chance that he would end up making them sail right over the wall like he did on occasion. There might be a time, somewhere down the road, that she would want to see him in his boxers, but being in the midst of trying to stop the mad Teutonic professor wasn't that.

"KP, I just didn't mean…you know."

She stopped and gave him a tiny kiss on his cheek. "Ron, the train lurched and you had to grab a hold of me so you wouldn't fall down. You've done it hundreds of times before."

He shook his head, rubbing the back of his neck. "But it's where I touched you."

"Ron, just drop it. I know the difference between being groped and you trying to keep from landing on your butt. Just because we're dating doesn't mean you have to think _that_ every time you touch me. Come on, you had your hands all over me when you caught me with the jet-pack."

"Yeah, but like you said, we weren't dating then, and I've got big hands, and…they're…right…there."

"Ron, don't unspool the drool. If you'd grabbed me like that while we were kissing a little while ago, I'd have been angry. Just…try not to think of it."

He very nearly replied with 'it's hard not to' but thought the better of it. All he knew was that he was standing there behind her, waiting for the train to come to a stop, then the next he had his hands full of…her. Worse than that, it took him a couple heartbeats to realize exactly where his hands were, making him feel that much worse for not realizing it sooner.

The strangest part was that she didn't say a word, just gave him a little smile while he turned a shade of red only slightly lighter than his 'civilian' jersey.

The Kimmunicator was out once more. "Got a lock on him. He's in the main chamber, directly below you. He's using some kind of jamming device to disrupt the security beams." Wade said, sounding a little more serious than he needed to.

"We need to get in there quickly, but I don't see a window we can use. Any ideas?"

"Hold the Kimmunicator out. I'm going to use a hyper-sonic pulse to smash through the roof."

"All ready here. Ron, have you got the ropes ready?"

He responded with a big thumbs up as he tied the riggings to his waist.

Kim turned her attention back to the roof, doing just as Wade had said. For a moment, she wished she had both hands free to cover her ear, but the blast only lasted a moment, causing a large crack to form in the roof, until part of it caved in, giving them a hole just big enough to let them descend. The lab would be paying for a new roof, but that was better than letting Dementor get away with whatever he had come for.

Dementor, who was busy with the security cage enclosing the device he was trying to, as Drakken sometimes put it, _outsource_, jerked back as the small section of concrete roof came crashing down not twenty feet from him. The cable from his equipment came loose, and the bright white glowing security beams came instantly back to life, once more protecting the technology.

Kim landed like a cat, one hand on her grappler, the other wrapped around Ron's waist. She got one look at the knot he was tying and grabbed him instead. "Unh! Hope you don't mind me and my boyfriend dropping in, Professor Dementor."

"Boyfriend? Vhat? Ah, I seriously doubt that." The Bavarian fire plug mocked, trying to turn his attention back to the security beams.

Ron slipped out of Kim's arm, landing face-first on the floor. "No, dude, it's true, really." He replied, trying to get up.

"Hmmm, no, sorry, don't believe it. I'm certain Fräulein Possible could do much better, no?"

Kim dropped into a combat ready stance, keeping an eye both on Dementor, and his two thugs, who were already in motion, trying to flank the couple. "I'd like to see you do better, Professor."

"I can **AND I HAVE!!! GET ZEM!!!**" He screamed as the beams winked out once more. With a grin, he wrapped his pudgy fingers around the blue-grey canister and turned to watch the proceedings.

Kim had already knocked one of the Henchco© goons to the floor, using him as a springboard to sail up and over the second. Ron, on the other hand, was still scrambling around on his hands and knees, doing his best not to get in the way of his 'supposed' girlfriend.

He almost shook his helmeted head as the red-haired firebrand pulled something from her hair, throwing it at the second goon. Since when did today's teen girls actually use hair pins? What, did she think she was her own grandmother? What she expected such tiny things to do, he couldn't imagine…

…at least, until one of them activated the henchman's rocket pack, sending him flying into the wall.

It was such a good thing he insisted his goons wear helmets!

"Enough of **ZIS!!!**" Reaching in to his jacket, he withdrew a spherical object that was roughly twice the size of a golf ball, throwing it at the crime-fighting duo with a malicious grin. Only, it did not have the effect he was expecting, because, at the very moment it would have struck, Ron chose to crawl directly behind Kim, tripping her backwards as the other goon advanced.

Dementor never saw his Bondo-Ball bounce once, then land in Kim's cargo pocket.

"Sorry, KP." Ron muttered, trying to disentangle himself from her long limbs."

"Don't get up on my account!" Dementor screamed, grabbing the device and heading for the ceiling chunk lying on the floor. "Ah, it looks like it is indeed my lucky day, thank you so much for providing me with an exit. So long, farewell, auf wiedersehen, **good-bye!**

At that very moment, Ron managed to regain his composure, hopping up into a pose that distantly resembled a proper fighting stance. "Ha! To Ronster is ready to go up side! ...Oh." His jaw dropped as he saw the villain and his goons sailing through the gap in the ceiling.

Kim just rested her chin in her palm, still lying on the floor, slowly shaking her head.

* * *

a/n: Wait! What's the Bondo-Ball doing in Kim's pocket? and what is Drakken up to?

* * *

Kim Possible and all related characters © Disney 


	7. Goodnight, Baby

_**There's Still Fireworks**_**: Part VII**

* * *

**Goodnight, Baby**

* * *

Ron Stoppable was discovering he enjoyed something. He actually enjoyed it quite a bit, though it was pretty obvious he knew he would, even before he got started doing it. Only, until just a few short days earlier, he had never put that notion to practice.

Kim had been understandably upset with him as they left the top-secret lab behind. Dementor had not only escaped, but he had done doing exactly what they had made the trip to prevent. The security forces of the lab had been understanding, to a point. After all, who was going to believe that the famous Kim Possible was there to steal it herself?

Once everything was sorted out, they offered to send the teens home in a remotely piloted helicopter, meaning they would be home in very short order. What had taken over five hours on an old, slow train would only take just over an hour on the return trip.

Ron settled into his seat, wondering what that ride would hold for him. It wasn't a question of whether Kim would forgive him or not. They had failed in the past, and many times it had been his fault, and she had never truly held that against him. Still, that didn't mean she didn't get upset and angry at him over the short haul. Somehow he was expecting at least a lecture.

Instead, the moment they were clear of the lights of the complex, he felt her auburn maned head resting against his shoulder. She stripped off her leather gloves and stuck them in her belt, almost as if that was an actual signal that she was no longer in 'mission mode.' One hand came to rest on his thigh, just above his knee and gave him a soft squeeze.

He started to speak, to apologize profusely for causing their loss, but before he could form the words, she caught his lips in hers in a light, brief kiss. Even beyond feeling guilty about their sitch, he was surprised she did that. So far, all of their kissing had been in private, and under the auspices of a 'date', or at least some private making out time. Even that hadn't had the chance to go beyond just some light kissing, since they spent most of it talking.

Then it occurred to him. They were alone on the aircraft, and save for the dim lights coming from the instrument panel, it was quite dark. There were small lights above their seats, but neither of them had seen fit to turn them on. He even considered that, given the late hour, Kim might want to get a little nap in before they got home.

As her lips brushed his a second time, he realized she might want to spend the flight otherwise engaged.

The second kiss started out much like the first, but went on far longer. Tentatively, he leaned into it, moving his lips against hers, following her lead, wondering exactly how far she intended to go, at least for half a moment. The second half of that moment he tried banishing that thought from his head. They were both sixteen and had been dating for just a few days, and obviously neither were experienced beyond kissing. Still, his male hormones were stirring, telling him otherwise, making it that much harder to dispel the notion that he might experience something new in the dark cabin of the helicopter.

He still didn't know what she had in mind as the kiss lingered for some time. Slowly, she increased the pressure of her mouth against his. It seemed she was as loath as he was to let it end, but he forced himself to let her be in control of things. It seemed only right, especially since he feared that any over-step of the bounds they had not yet discussed would only lead to hurt feelings and perhaps a fight they weren't ready to have. Math might not have been his strong suit, but this particular equation was simple. Screw up, and the kissing stops.

They spent almost the entire ride like that. Gaining some measure of confidence, he put an arm around her back, which seemed to please her as she shifted her weight against his side and put a hand on the back of his head, running her fingers through his short hair as the very tips of their tongues danced against each other.

She didn't seem to notice as his eyebrows went up slightly as his hands explored her upper back. He didn't yet have the confidence to let them wander any lower than the bottom of her crop-top, let alone drift to the loose opening of her olive cargo pants, but his fingers discovered something, or more precisely, the lack of something he had somewhat suspected, but had never really considered all that much.

It was obvious all she was wearing on top was her midriff-baring mock turtleneck.

For a good ten or fifteen minutes that was all he could think about, to the point he actually lost track of the kissing itself. Earlier, when his hands had landed where they weren't supposed to, he had been too embarrassed to actually notice. Again, he found himself fighting the notion that his hands should explore further, but he wasn't about to do that. There was indeed a great difference between accidentally grabbing a hold of her, and…well…groping.

Even so, just touching her back through the fabric of her top, knowing for certain what he had previously only thought, was very, very pleasant for him, and the perfect counterpart for the primary activity they were engaged in.

He was still lost in thought, picturing that part of her back without the top or her hair in the way, when his stomach lurched slightly. Kim broke away and peered out the window. It was much lighter in the helicopter by that point, though it was still the middle of the night. Far below, the lights of Middleton beckoned as they descended from the clouds.

"Home again, huh, KP?"

"Yeah. I thought they said it would take an hour to get home."

Ron pulled the edge of his glove back so he could see his battered old digital watch. "Huh. It actually has been about an hour."

Kim played with his bangs, very lightly touching his skin with her fingertips. "Yeah, time sure flies when you're having fun."

Taking a slight chance, Ron kissed her forehead. In the growing light, he could tell it was the right move, because she smiled softly at him, lovingly. That made him a little more daring.

"You know, Kim, since everyone know we're on a mission, maybe we don't have to go home right away." He added a little wag of his eyebrows.

Kim looked at him for a moment, her face unreadable, as if she were considering just that. Finally, she shook her head slowly, causing her hair to bob from one side to the other. "No, Ron. For starters, Mission Time is a sacred trust. If we abuse that for our own personal reasons…no matter how tempting," She gave him a light kiss on the tip of his nose, "we run the risk of damaging the very credibility we need, the trust our parents and others have in us that we're doing what we're supposed to be doing. That's how we can be out at three in the morning, flying around in a helicopter instead of tucked into our beds after curfew."

"Oh." He said, a little ashamed for broaching the subject.

"Hey." She gave him a short, but more intense kiss on the lips as their neighborhood came into view. "This is why we talk. Like I said, it's very tempting, especially as good a kisser as you're turning out to be. Plus, there's another reason."

"Oh? Think we might get a little too…you know?"

Kim made a funny noise in the back of her throat. "So not! No, Ronnie, it's three in the morning, I'm dead tired, we've got to be in school in a few hours, I've still got what Bonnie calls a 'fussy routine' to work out with the squad, and you have a math test…a test I don't recall you studying for. Much as I would have liked this flight to go on longer," She gave him another little peck, "we both need the rest. As it is, I'm probably going to go home and collapse right on my bed, and worry about changing in the morning." She gripped his hand, giving it a firm squeeze.

Rufus chose that moment to rise from his place in Ron's pocket, stretching mightily and letting out a yawn neither teen would have thought possible from such a small creature.

"Besides, Ron, looks like you need to spend some quality time with Rufus instead of just me. He disappeared the moment we started kissing. Good little naked mole rat!"

"Hey." He squeaked, wondering exactly what he had done that was so good. The concept of his human and his "mate" needing privacy to mash their faces together for the better part of an hour was slightly beyond him, though, admittedly, the extra warmth Ron had been generating during the course of their flight was quite soothing.

The chopper set down in the wide lane in front of Kim's house. Ron looked at the darkened home almost sadly. "You know, KP, if we'd stopped by my house, I could have walked you home. We could have held hands."

She leaned against him as they disembarked, not so much because she needed his support physically, but that it gave her a good excuse to remain in contact with him. "I never thought about that. I guess everyone seems to know where I live, so they just assumed I'd want to come back here. Tell you what, I'll walk you home and we can hold hands and I can kiss you goodnight."

"Uh-uh, no way, KP. Sixteen kinds of kung fu or not, there's no way I'm letting you walk home alone this time of night."

"Um, Ron, that's sweet and all, but we both walk between our homes at all hours just fine, and, no offense, but I think I'm a lot safer walking home alone than you are."

He shot her a slight look. "It just doesn't seem right, you know, gentlemanly or something. If something happened to you…"

"Ron, if something happened to you I'd feel the same way, and that goes beyond the fact we're dating." She put an arm around his waist and pulled him close for a moment. "Baby…"

"Baby? I'm a baby now?"

"Ron, I don't know, it just seems natural calling you that, like I did when I came out wearing that dress." She stopped for a moment at he got a wistful expression, recalling the short, tight little black number. "Look, you're still Ron and I'm still Kim. If you really boil it down, the only dif now is that we do this." She gave him a long, slow kiss, holding him tightly against her. "I'm still Kim Possible, and I can do anything, and that includes walking my boyfriend home."

Taking a chance, Ron literally put his foot down. "No, KP. A gentleman walks his lady to his door, not the other way around." He took her shoulder and turned her toward the red door. "Besides, we're already here, and you said you were tired. No use you walking half a mile each way, alone."

Kim held up her hands. "Okay, you win, my gentleman. Walk me to my door?"

"It'll be my pleasure." He grinned at her, his arm never leaving her shoulder until they were in the little darkened alcove. As usual, the trust her family had in her was such that nobody had stayed up waiting for them to come home, at least from a mission. If they had been on an actual date, though, she was sure at least her father would be there, constantly looking at his watch, probably from at least a half hour before her curfew.

As it was, they probably spent the next ten minutes on the goodnight kiss alone, though if asked, they would think it only lasted about a minute.

"Walk you to school tomorrow?" He asked, touching his forehead to hers.

"If you don't, it'll be so the drama. Goodnight, Ron. Be careful."

Kim leaned against the door jam, watching him walk away until he turned the corner, out of sight. Fortunately, Middleton was still a fairly safe place for a teen to be out at night. Not to mention, it really did seem like nobody knew or cared where he lived. Part of that bothered her, and she was going to do something about that.

Ron had been right about one thing, though. She was practically dead on her feet. Even mounting the stairs to her loft was a chore, something she hadn't noticed while she was with him. All the fatigue from riding back and forth on the mission, the brief battle, and even the bruise she still carried from her fall the afternoon before at cheer practice all seemed to gang up on her at once.

Just as she predicted, she plopped directly onto her bed, not even bothering to undress or even pull back the comforter. Kim knew she would rest better with a proper shower, but she just couldn't bring herself to get back up to take one. That meant a whole other trip down the stairs, then back up again, not to mention probably waking her parents and her brothers. It was just better to lay there, on top of the covers and get forty winks before her alarm went off in just under three hours.

Unbuckling her equipment belt, she threw it on the floor and rolled onto her side to get more comfortable. That's when she realized there was something in the pocket opposite the one she kept the Kimmunicator in. She didn't remember putting anything there, and it made an uncomfortable lump on the side of her leg.

Sitting up, she switched on her nightstand light and cleaned out her pockets, putting her house keys and the Kimmunicator on the small, round table. Finally, she pulled what looked like a shiny metal ball out of the other side.

For a moment she thought about calling Wade. He had been known to slip various tools into their backpacks, and had a notoriously bad habit of not walking them through them until they were actually needed. That was something she wanted to discuss with him, but not to the point of waking him up at half past three. He was, after all, just an eleven year-old boy.

Yawning, she took the orb-thingy and put it in her backpack. Unless a mission came up, she did have a lot to do the next day, to the point she would have to wear her junior varsity cheer uniform to school the next day. Fortunately, it was already turning nicely warm for early spring, so she wouldn't have to wear a jacket over it.

Kim wasn't quite sure when she fell asleep, or even if she was gone before she could settle back down in her dark pink pillows. All she knew was that, in that dream, she was with Ron, their arms wrapped around each other, their faces joined seemingly forever. She also knew that she wished that could go on forever.

She was so caught up in her subconscious make-out session she didn't even pay the least bit of attention to the herd of Pandaroos milling about them, saying "Be careful what you wish for!"

* * *

Kim Possible and all related characters © Disney 


	8. Testing the Limits

_**There's Still Fireworks**_**: Part VIII**

* * *

**Testing the Limits****  
**

* * *

"I don't know what's wrong, KP, this usually doesn't happen to me." 

Kim put a hand on her hip, cocking her head to one side. "Do you think you might be doing it wrong?"

"No, how else would I do it?" Ron slouched slightly. He knew what was wrong, but wasn't about to mention it to Kim. It always worked when he was alone, but there, with her, his girlfriend, the woman he…loved? There were certain performance anxieties involved.

"Do you think maybe putting in your combination and pulling up the latch might work?" Kim offered, her voice a blend of helpfulness and gentle sarcasm.

Ron stood to one side, trying to relax. He'd done it perhaps a thousand times already, and that was just the latter half of their Junior year. It wasn't rocket science – in fact, the only rocket scientist he knew personally would have agreed with his daughter about the proper way to open his locker. Except for one problem.

His hand flashed out, hitting the door with more noise than violence. Unfortunately, the door remained resolutely closed, refusing to budge one bit.

"Come on, Ron, just use your combination. I'm going to be late to cheer practice."

He took just a moment to contemplate the sight before him. He's seen her wear that particular uniform for almost four years, or at least one a lot like it. Middleton Middle School pretty much got hand-me-down uniforms from Middleton High School, so in effect she'd been wearing them since she became a cheerleader at twelve, but there was something different about her that day.

Ron Stoppable was dating the head cheerleader!

"Uh, KP, I kinda-sorta…don't actually remember my combo."

"Ugh. Let me try."

For half a heartbeat, he expected her to hit the door with some variation of the Mantis style, or any one of the other types of Kung Fu he couldn't readily name. Instead, she just grabbed the dial and spun it around a few times, finally pulling the latch upwards.

The door sprung open, sending a cascade of wrappers, some empty, some not, spilling onto the floor with about half of his school supplies and books. Kim just stood there rolling her eyes as both her boyfriend and his pet naked mole rat dug into the snackage.

"How…mumph…did you know my combo, KP?...crunch-crunch."

Shaking her head slightly, Kim carefully knelt down and started helping him collect his garbage. "It's not big, Ronnie. You gave it to me at the start of the semester just in case you forgot it. Don't tell me that's the only way you've been opening your locker."

Slightly embarrassed, he rubbed the back of his neck. "Yeah, uh, that's kinda why I've been borrowing your books a lot lately. Ah, heh-heh."

"Riiiight." Kim got back up and stuffed most of what was in her arms into the nearest trash can. "I've got to get to practice. Good luck on your math test." She leaned over and gave him a quick kiss on his cheek.

"What's that in your backpack?" Ron asked as she stuffed the last of a crème filled chocolate snack cake into his mouth.

Kim looked over at the pack, which was sitting on the floor with the top flap open. She realized he was talking about the metallic ball she had found in her clothing the night before. Up until that moment, she had completely forgotten it was there.

Ron reached down, picking it up, his eyes getting wide. "Coooooool! So, what's this, some new crime-fighting orb thingy Wade slipped you?"

"I…don't know. Be careful, we don't know what it is, so don't drop it."

He tossed it a few inches in the air a couple times, easily catching it. "Give me a little more credit, KP, my middle name is careful."

Kim closed her fingers over the ball. "I thought your middle name was Dean. I'll just keep it with me until Wade has a chance to scan it. Now I'm going to be late, and so are you."

Just as she spoke, the tardy bell rang, meaning both of them were now technically late. For Kim that was less of a problem since the 'coach' overseeing the squad almost never came by, leaving it pretty much to her to keep order at practice. For Ron, it was another thing all together."

"Gah! I'm missing my math test." He started towards the class, then stopped himself, giving Kim a rather clumsy kiss on the check before speeding off again.

"If he were only that amped about schoolwork all the time." She muttered, sticking the ball back into her pack and shouldering it.

"What was that about?" Bonnie Rockwaller asked as she slowly walked by, her button nose thrust coolly into the air.

"What was what?" Kim fell into step beside her rival.

"That kiss thing with Stoppable. Don't tell me that silliness from last week was actually real. Oh, or are you just playing along so you don't hurt him?" she sneered.

"Bonnie, I am so past hurting him. For your information, we're dating now, for real."

"More like…" She made a gagging motion with her finger. "Get with the program, K, this isn't 'Date a Loser' week. The squad has standards to uphold."

"Ron is so not a loser, B, and as long as you're talking about standards, I think you need to switch with Marcella at the base of the pyramid." Kim looked a little smug, knowing that, despite the change being an 'upgrade' from being the spotter for the routine, the low spot in the formation would still grate at the tanned cheerleader.

Bonnie just glared at her for a moment as the Kimmunicator chirped from its place in her backpack.

"What you got, Wade?" She asked, after shoving the metallic object to the side so she could pull out her royal blue communications device.

"I'm meeting hard resistance finding out what Dementor stole, but I'll keep digging." He replied between bites of some unidentifiable candy bar.

"And his location." She stopped in her tracks for a moment, returning Bonnie's glare for holding them up.

"Could be anywhere. It's like Dementor vanished when he..."

"Got away, I know. Ron's been doing his best to make it up to me." She didn't add that his 'best' was a rockin' make-out session on the flight home instead of his usual profuse apologizing.

"What's that?" Wade asked, nodding toward the object in Kim's free hand.

"I don't know. Ron thinks it must be some kind of high-tech crime-fighting device you slipped me."

"I did?" He looked completely confused, pondering the sphere.

"You didn't?"

"Nope."

Kim held it a few inches from her face, close enough to see her reflection in the polished surface. "Then what is it?"

Wade touched a few buttons, causing the Kimmunicator to scan it briefly. "I'll analyze it and get back to you."

"Okay, Wade. You rock." She slipped both devices back into her pack.

Bonnie glared at Kim, her hands on her hips. "You people are so…"

Kim cut her off before she could get 'weird' out of her mouth. "Don't start, Bonnie, I'm so not in the mood."

"What are you in the mood for, K, making out with your new…'boyfriend?' Or maybe you're just with the loser because he's just a smokescreen for something else."

"Excuse me?" Kim almost snarled as she picked up her pom-poms.

"The way you're always fighting with that woman in green, maybe the reason you've never made it with a suitable guy is that you don't want one in the first place."

"Bonnie, I… Ugh, I can't even begin to go into how many levels of wrong that is. Ron is my boyfriend because I like him. HIM! That's all there is to it. Now could we get started on this routine? Pamela," She addressed one of the less-experienced girls, a dark haired, dark skinned sophomore. "I'm going to switch you with Bonnie for the pyramid sequence. Okay, on three, one, two…"

She never got to three. An incredibly annoying clip from a hip-hop song interrupted from the pile of personal gear near the stands. Bonnie was on her cell phone so quickly it was as if she had teleported from her position on the floor to he bag.

"At least this time it wasn't in the middle of the routine." Tara offered.

"Bonnie, put that thing away and turn it off. This isn't the time or the place for you to be torturing poor Brick." The lumbering quarterback may have been Bonnie's boyfriend, but he had always been kind and friendly to Kim, excepting his 'dumping' of her during a fiasco the previous year, so it tweaked her to no end that the overly tanned brunette basically led him around by his nose.

The object of her ire snapped the phone shut, shooting daggers at her from her aquamarine eyes. "I'll turn it off when you turn yours off, K." She nodded toward the Kimmunicator, which was still sitting on top of her backpack.

"That is so not the same, Bonnie, I…"

"…Save the world. Get off your ego horse, K. Most of the time you just talk to that little nerd of yours, or you just run off to do lord knows what, and I'll have you know, that was an emergency."

"What?" Kim sneered sarcastically. "Brick wanted to know if you wanted to see a chick-flick or an action movie?"

"No, I said it was a real emergency. That was Mother, she was calling to tell me my sibs were home from college this week."

Kim shook her head, almost throwing up her arms as she turned her attention back to the practice session.

* * *

Ron skidded around a corner, racing toward his math class. His destination was just in sight when he felt himself suddenly lifted from the floor, his legs still milling under him. 

"No running in the hallways." Barkin said evenly, holding him by the collar of his shirt, effortlessly holding Ron's one hundred forty pounds in the air.

"Math test!" the blond teen squealed, pointing at the open door to the room where the rest of the class was already bending over their desks, intent on the day's exam.

Sigh "It's always the tardy who run. Fine, go take your test, Stoppable. I'll take this up with you later in Room Twelve."

"Aw man, detention? But I haven't been tardy three times!"

"Are you questioning my authority again, Stoppable?"

Rather than answer, Ron simply backed through the classroom door, picking up a copy of the test from the teacher's desk and made his way to his seat. Barkin simply glared at him through the door, still angry, but not wishing to disrupt a class over his ire. Moments later, as he turned his attention to the test itself, the large substitute teacher simply moved on, hopefully to harass some other supposed slacker.

It was as if his eyes couldn't focus on the test itself. Oh, he understood the words, at least individually on the paper, but he couldn't get his mind to focus on the problems. That in and of itself wasn't unusual, but the cause was. Normally, his mind would jump from video games, to snackage later at Bueno Nacho (or the fact that their afternoon trip there would be delayed by a stint in detention.) Instead, it was focused like a laser on one thing…

…or rather, one person. Kim.

Math, in the past, was just something Ron wanted to survive. He honestly believed he would never actually have to use it in the real world, at least not what they were teaching. Oh, he could count out change, and with his Dad's help, he could balance a checkbook (a pastime his father insisted on after the Naco Royalties debacle) but word problems? Who cared if one train was leaving the Tri-City and another was leaving Go-City at the same time?

That all changed the moment Kim kissed him in front of her locker. Even though he spent the rest of the day stressing over how he would gently end that aspect of their relationship, deep down inside something changed within him. Suddenly, he honestly wanted to be worthy of her, even if on the surface he didn't want to keep her. That meant stepping up, not only in their missions, but in his own little world as well.

Ron Stoppable wanted to do well on the test to impress Kim!

Slowly, he relaxed, and put his mind to the task of actually trying on the exam. He was on the final problem, momentarily stumped when a little voice inside his head said "Carry the one!" He entered his answer with a flourish and turned the paper in.

The object of his newfound determination was leaned on the lockers across the hallway. Practice had just ended, and she had a light sheen of sweat still on her forehead, having skipped the showers for a moment with her new boyfriend.

"So, how'd it go?" She asked, gently pushing a strand of his hair behind his ear.

"It was touch and go there, but I think I pulled it out in the end." He offered with one of his trademark goofy grins.

She rapped on his head gently with her knuckles. "See, there's more than air beneath that pretty blond hair."

"Pretty?" He pulled back slightly, screwing his nose up at the term.

"Uh huh, pretty, though you could use a haircut." Her fingers hesitated on the back curve of his large ear, a touch that was close to making his eyes roll back in his head.

He shook his head slightly. "Uh-uh, KP. No more funky haircuts for the Ronster."

"Right." She grinned, remembering the incident early in their sophomore year. "All I have to do sixth period is hand in a paper, think you could blow off yours and head to BN early?"

Ron's jaw almost dropped. Kim was actually suggesting he flake on a class, just so they could get away from school early. Then the incident with Barkin rushed back to the forefront of his mind. "Can't, Barkin gave me detention this afternoon for being late to math class."

"That's alright. I talked to him a few minutes ago and told him we were doing some necessary follow up to our mission…but you're right, you'd better go to class. Wouldn't want to push it any more than we can."

Kim looked both ways. The hallway was full of students on their way to the final class of the day, and for some reason, there wasn't a faculty member in sight. Emboldened, the hand that had been caressing Ron's ear reached behind his head and pulled him close. After her verbal tussle with Bonnie, she wanted the whole school to see just exactly who it was she wanted to be with, who she wanted to be kissing, regardless of the fact it was against the rules to do so there in the school.

Ron leaned into the kiss, fully enjoying it. His free hand snaked around her bare, and slightly damp waist, pulling her even closer as the kiss turned from a quick bus into a deep, long, loving joining of their faces.

Kim relaxed slightly, arching her back, slightly surprised with the intensity Ron was returning the kiss with, but loving it just the same. Almost absently, she let her backpack slip off her shoulder, dropping to the floor.

The kept kissing despite the slight pop and hiss coming from the pack, not noticing the amber mist that surrounded them.

* * *

Kim Possible and all related characters © Disney 


	9. Title removed for being too cliché

_**There's Still Fireworks**_**: Part IX**

* * *

**(Title removed for being too cliché) **

* * *

"Mmmmmpphhh!!!" 

The first indication that something was actually quite wrong was that the hallway started to get very quiet. A thought crossed Kim's mind that they were perhaps getting a _little _too into it, and the students around them were starting to enjoy the show. For her that was a strong indicator that it was time to cease and desist before a teacher or other faculty member happened by, or worse, Barkin, landing Ron right back in hot water with him, and her as well. Quick pecks, hand holding and the like were tolerated, but making out on school grounds was clearly a violation of the _Public Displays of Affection_ policy.

Just as she had taken charge in initiating the kiss, Kim started to back away from it. Her notion was to look Ron in the eyes, letting him see how much she was blushing, all the while trying to ignore the staring faces all around them.

Only, Ron wasn't letting go. He still had his arm tightly around her waist and even as she backed away even more forcefully, he followed, his lips still pressed hard against hers. Her eyebrows immediately dropped down into a scowl. Much as she liked kissing him, 'mashing' just wasn't something she was going to tolerate.

Then she did actually look him in the eyes, seeing the distress there. Every time she pulled away, he was being dragged along with her, their lips seemingly glued together. His face would stretch out until he moved along with her to keep it from becoming painful.

With a slight twist of her waist, Kim also realized his arm was stuck to her back, just as her hand was stuck to the back of his head.

"Mmmmmpphhh!!!" both of them moaned through involuntarily locked lips.

"Opf gong onf?" _What's going on?_, Kim took him to mean.

"I on oh." _I don't know, _she responded. Kim could see the terror start creeping into his eyes. They were at school, which normally meant they were safe from most of the really weird things that happened to them. Usually, all they had to worry about were the more prosaic things that would cause normal teens to be embarrassed nearly to death.

Okay, being glued together in a passionate kiss pretty much had the same effect.

Slowly, Kim eased both of them closer to the floor so she could reach her backpack. Brushing the ball aside, her fingers closed around the Kimmunicator, her thumb hitting the call button before it even cleared the folds of her pack.

The mildly concerned face of her younger friend popped up immediately. "Kim, I finished analyzing the contents of that orb. It's a super-strong molecular adhesive, so be careful…uh, is this a…bad…time?" His cocoa skin managed to pale a couple shades as he realized the couple appeared to be kissing.

Kim shot him a glare that said _We are so past careful._ She tried speaking, but she couldn't manage anything that sounded like more than just a moan.

"Whoa. So I guess the device got activated somehow while you were…oh man! You guys were smacking lips again!" He made a face like the imagined cooties could jump right through the connection between his system and the handheld screen.

_So not helping,_ Kim thought at him as Ron did his best to join in on the glare.

"CHEESE AND CRACKERS! What do you two think you are doing?" Barkin bellowed as he appeared, looming large above the two of them. "Break this up this instant!"

_I wish we could! _Unable to speak, Kim simply passed the Kimmunicator to the teacher, hoping Wade would be able to offer up some kind of solution to him.

It was starting to dawn on the broad shouldered man that something else besides a gross violation of the PDA policy was taking place. Stoppable he could believe doing something of that nature, though actually kissing a girl, even Possible, was something he really couldn't have imagined before the previous week, but the do-gooder cheerleader? For the moment he forgot about the apparent make-out session and concentrated on the fact the two of them seemed to be stuck in that position.

"Explanation now!" He demanded of the tiny screen.

"Apparently the two of them were exposed to a super-strong molecular adhesive. In effect, they are pretty much glued together, like super-glue, but much stronger."

Barkin arched an eyebrow. He was only familiar with Wade Load in passing, as in, he knew he was the guy Possible talked to on the device all the time, but all he could think of was how a child like that was able to spend so much time sitting at his home playing with computers instead of being properly enrolled in school. He was totally unaware that the young man was not only through with high school, but college as well and was already on his way to earning a doctorate. "OK, Mr. Computer Guy, maybe you can offer up a solution here."

Wade pondered that for a moment. All he had to work with at that point was a quick reading the Kimmunicator had taken, which was woefully incomplete. "Maybe if you could just hold the Kimmunicator up to Kim and Ron I can take a better reading.

Barkin did just that. "Hmmm. I'll need to run some computer simulations, but exposed to air like this, the compound has taken on different characteristics. Let me see the container again."

Carefully, Kim leaned over slowly, picking up the ball and handing it to the teacher. "Bad news." Wade said after the second, more thorough scan. "Apparently it's empty now, so all I've got to work with is the resulting compound. The good news is there's gotta be a solvent."

"Check. Get on it." Barkin ordered.

"...Right. Hey, I found out what was stolen from the lab. A prototype. High yield kinetic modulator. From what I can tell, it's very dangerous. I don't have to tell you how bad that is in Dementor's hands."

"I don't care about this Demental guy…" Barkin growled.

"Dementor." Wade corrected him.

"Whatever. What is important right now is the problem at hand." He fumbled with the keys for a moment, finally managing to shut the tiny device off before handing it to Kim, who slipped it into a hidden pocket in her cheer skirt.

With a sweeping gaze, Barkin managed to clear the entire hallway within seconds. "My office, now!" He barked at the two.

Getting there was a lot easier said than done. The way the two of them were joined, it was hard to see where they were going, not to mention the fact that it was actually starting to get a little painful as both their faces stretched whenever they got out of synch.

Once there, it was clear that sitting down was pretty much out of the question. Barkin circled his desk, propping his face partially behind his hands as he considered what his next move would be. "So, your computer guy said there should be a solvent. Maybe the new janitor has something that will help. Don't move."

They both gave him a plaintive look that said _we wouldn't even think of it_ as he headed out the door. Moments later, he returned with a can of mineral spirits.

"This will take magic marker off the bathroom stalls, so this should do the trick." He dribbled some of it onto a cloth, and as gently as he could, he tried dabbing their bonded lips.

It didn't have quite the effect he was hoping for.

Their lips were still just as stuck as they had been for what was by then about ten minutes, though it seemed much longer. Barkin knew the solvent for super-glue was acetone, but he was loath to use such a strong chemical on them without the supervision of the school nurse.

Problem was, the spirits had a strong enough odor they were affecting Ron in another way. At first he scrunched up his nose, fighting it, but he was clearly losing the battle.

Barkin realized exactly what was happening at the same time Kim did. Her eyes lit up in fear, fully expecting to get a sneeze right in her face! Just in time, a pair of large fingers closed over Ron's nose.

Ron sighed, despite the pain of having his sneeze forcibly squelched. All three relaxed for a moment…

…just as Ron sneezed again.

Being a young, healthy man who spent a great deal of time working out his lungs with powerful screaming, the sneeze was…well, nothing to sneeze at. With his mouth completely engaged with Kim's all of it had to go somewhere, and that meant his nose. Add to that the fact it took him by surprise and was completely unchecked, it came with such force that it reverberated through the entire drab little room.

"AAAAA CHOOOOO."

Kim lost her footing, pulling both of them down onto the floor where she landed hard on her rump, right on the same place she was bruised the other day during practice.

"Owwww." She moaned, rolling to the side to get her boyfriend's weight off of her smaller frame as much as she could.

"Sorry…" sniff "KP!"

It took her a couple heartbeats to realize their mouths were no longer joined. Tentatively, she licked her lips, which seemed none-the-worse for wear. No skin had torn loose, meaning the adhesive was indeed somewhat different from cyanocrylate type glues.

Barkin noticed the change in their situation as well. Standing them up, he tried pulling them apart with as much force as he could muster without actually hurting them. That's when they all realized, while their mouths weren't stuck together, their cheeks certainly were, and their hands and arms were still stuck in the same positions, without giving any indication they were about to budge.

"Whoa, Mr. B, that hurts."

"Stop your whining, Stoppable. If a sneeze can get you loose, then a little pain will be worth it."

Kim grunted against the strain. "I don't think so, Mr. Barkin. Our cheeks weren't stuck together before."

"You mean, wherever we touch?" Ron's free hand came up to cup Kim's cheek. She gasped slightly, realizing what he was testing.

Fortunately, the hand came away seconds later. Slowly, she returned the gesture, finding it just as easy to remove her hand. Where they were stuck, they were stuck fast.

"At least I can breathe." Ron took a couple gulps of air through his mouth, since his nose was still slightly stuffed from the sneeze.

Barkin circled the teens, rubbing his chin in thought. "It seems like the effect moved to another location when the contact was broken." Unasked, he put his large hands on their face, turning them slightly.

With a little experimentation, they discovered they could indeed move what parts were stuck together, and with some rolling and twisting, they finally managed to get their hands free. However, like with a ball of sticky goo, no matter what they did, they couldn't get their bodies unstuck from each other. They finally had to settle for being literally joined at the hip.

As there were only single-seat chairs in the office, they were still forced to stand as Barkin considered what the next step would be. He picked up his phone and called the school nurse. Moments later, she arrived, but didn't have anything helpful to add.

Scowling, Barkin reached for the phone once more.

"It seems I have no choice. I'm going to have to call your parents." He sounded oddly resigned, as if he were as loath to do so as the couple were.

"Mr. B, please, no, not that. Kim's Dad is going to put me in a black hole!"

"So not the drama, Ron. Dad is going to do no such thing." Kim groaned.

"I don't know what that means." Barkin said softly, "But be that as it may, Possible's parents are trained scientists and doctors. They are the best option." His characteristic scowl returned. "Plus there is the fact the two of you ended up in this predicament by making out on school grounds. That would mean a call to them even if it were not for the two of you now being glued together."

Both of them slumped, unable to counter that line of thinking. While she didn't believe the threat her father had leveled against Ron the previous Friday, he was still going to be deeply upset, perhaps enough that he could actually sanction them for their behavior. There was also how her Mom would react to the two of them being disciplined for kissing at school. She really had no idea how that would play, considering it was something neither parent ever actually had to deal with.

No, that wasn't completely true. One of the reasons Kim had never been about kissing guys went back to her first real kiss. Ron tried to keep the Walter Nelson affair under wraps by getting his mother to drive her to the orthodontist, but it had gotten back to her parents in short order anyway.

All of that aside, the logical side of her mind had to acknowledge that Mr. Barkin was correct. If anyone could help them, it would be her parents, and any kind of retribution for her behavior would take a back seat to solving their current crisis. Much as she wanted to be close to Ron, being literally stuck to him was not high on her pri-list.

Looking at the floor, she let out a big sigh. "Make the call." She said softly.

* * *

Kim Possible and all related characters © Disney 


	10. “Oh Relax, I’m a Doctor”

_**There's Still Fireworks**_**: Part X**

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"**Oh Relax, I'm a Doctor"**

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Standing upright while joined at the hip wasn't quite as bad as trying to sit together in the seat of Steve Barkin's pickup truck, but it still wasn't as comfortable as the teens would have preferred. Kim was having the worst of it, since she was normally the more active of the two, and their sitch wasn't two different than a three-legged race like the pair used to participate during Field Day back in elementary school. As a matter of fact, it was slightly worse, since Kim's longer legs forced Ron to try and keep up.

Oddly enough, they had more problems trying to get from the office out to the parking lot than they had earlier when the gruff educator ordered them to his office. At least then they were still running on adrenaline and it wasn't until they both had time to think about what was happening to them that they realized their gaits were different. It was akin to the old joke about stopping a centipede in its tracks by asking it what order it moved its legs in.

Both of them had their hearts in their throats when they got home and saw both Kim's Mom's mini-van and her Dad's bronze luxury car sitting in the drive. Kim, at least, was sure that neither would be overly concerned about them being glued together like that. After all, they had been through worse, such as the time they switched brains. No, the problem wasn't the what…but the why.

They were both in uncharted territory, at least as far as their personal lives were concerned. She was reasonably sure that her Mom would be understanding about how they ended up stuck together, but that wasn't the biggest problem. It wasn't her Dad either, though he would probably want to have another 'Fam-to-Ron' chat about what a young man and his girlfriend should properly be doing.

No, the worst of it was that they were both breaking the rules at the time. Kim wasn't perfect, in fact, she was far from it, but she always prided herself in being rather conscientious about following the proper path. She fully expected the words 'you are grounded' to be spoken once the dust settled.

Ron, on the other hand, was just about beside himself, worrying exactly what her Dad would have in store for him. Only a very short week had gone by since he was told what kind of trouble he would be in, so the concept of being launched in a deep space probe to the nearest black hole weighed heavily on his normally unfocused mind.

They both felt about three feet tall as the large man led them toward the front door of her house. So far they had heard him give a rather terse explanation of their general situation, not yet mentioning the part about them kissing in the hallway. That seemed to lend some credence to the supposed vindictive nature of the teacher Ron was so convinced about. It was as if he wanted to be there in person to deliver the 'bad' news.

"Drs Possible." He said calmly as they opened the door, both of them looking concerned, though for all intents and purposes, nothing seemed amiss other than the fact the teens were standing side-by-side on the stoop. A very slight smile and a roll of the eyes from Kim's Mom told her that the concern didn't go too deep, at least at the moment.

"Okay, kids, I've got a microscope set up in the kitchen. Let's take a look at what's going on." The older red-head turned to Barkin. "Thanks for bringing them home."

"Don't mention it, Dr. Possible." He leveled his gaze on the couple, who were still standing immovable on the stoop, making them shrink even further. "I'll see the two of you in my office first thing Monday morning."

Ron looked like he was about to speak, but either had the presence of mind not to, or simply was frozen like a deer in the headlights. All Kim could muster was a tiny, embarrassed smile.

"I'll let you take it from here. I'm due at a rugby match. Good afternoon."

Kim and Ron looked each other in the eye, then watched as Mr. Barkin got back into his pickup and drove off. Neither could believe what had just happened.

"He didn't mention…" Ron started, only to have Kim pinch his waist slightly.

"Ixnay on the issingkay." She whispered. Slowly it dawned on her boyfriend that they were actually given some kind of reprieve, though for what reason, neither of them could fathom.

They followed Kim's parents into the kitchen, still moving as if they were learning to walk all over again. Every so often they would put some stress on the bond, and it would glow blue for just a moment, but they remained resolutely stuck together all the same. The agent wasn't showing any signs of weakening.

"How did this happen?" Kim's Mom asked, sitting down behind a compact electronic microscope set up on the kitchen table.

"I had this thingy we must have accidentally gotten from Professor Dementor, filled with whatever has us stuck together, and it went off." She bit her lower lip slightly, a tiny bit ashamed for leaving off the other important factor.

She had them stand in front of the device, looking closely at the small screen.

James cast a baleful glance at Ron. "The two of you weren't doing anything…inappropriate, were you?"

"Inna…us? Nooooo!" Ron said quickly, sweating profusely as the graying scientist narrowed his eyes at him. "What would make you think that?"

"Call it a father's intuition." He said easily.

"Dear, if you think by scaring him you'll make him sweat enough to make the glue come off, it won't work." Kim's Mom said as she studied the image.

James' face lost its intensity, letting Ron relax just slightly. "Sorry, honey, I just saw this thing once on the television where a doctor scared a little boy with a big needle so the things he super-glued to his face would fall off. Just trying to help."

"James, that was a cartoon, this is real life. Interesting. There's a high density molecular process involved in this bonding agent."

"What does that mean?" Kim asked, peering over the device so she could see what her Mom was looking at.

"It's a sticky situation." Her Dad said with a slight chuckle.

"Ha! Good one!" His wife laughed.

"Thanks."

"So not helping." Kim gruffed, slowly getting past their near miss involving their kiss.

Her Mom just shook her head. "Sorry, dear. We deal in science…"

"…not mad science." James finished for her.

Kim pulled out a chair and started to sit down, momentarily forgetting the extra one hundred forty pounds attached to her side. She slumped slightly and pulled another chair alongside with her foot so they could both sit down.

"What are we going to do?" She asked, almost whining.

"I'm certain you and your new beau will think of something." Her Mom said, trying to be helpful. "A little togetherness isn't going to hurt you, especially now."

That caused her husband to look Ron in the eye once more, making it clear there were limits to what 'togetherness' would mean for the two sixteen-year-olds.

"This isn't exactly what I had in mind." She gave Ron a sidelong glance, smiling ironically.

"We were going to the movies tonight." Ron suggested.

Kim just shook her head. "Nuh-uh. I'm so not going out dressed like this. I'm not even sure how we're going to change our clothes."

Her Mom leaned closer, sniffing the air ever so slightly. "Among other things."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Ron asked.

"What it means," her Mom started, "Is that, based on the rate of decay of the molecular bonds in the formula, is that the two of you are stuck together for the foreseeable future, unless Wade can come up with some kind of solvent that will work on it, or he can locate the villain who did this to you, you are both going to have to live with each other. That means there are certain…issues that are going to have to be dealt with." She leveled her gaze at her daughter's eyes. "For instance, somebody is in desperate need of a shower."

"Ugh!" Kim planted her face on the table top, her hair spilling all around it.

"What's the big deal? I can go a couple days…" Ron started.

"Ron, she means me." Kim moaned, not raising her head. "I didn't shower after practice. You mean you haven't noticed?"

He just shrugged. "Uh, no, not really. I still don't see what the big deal is."

Kim looked up at him with an arched eyebrow. "The big deal is you're going to be right there in the shower with me."

"I…ohhhhh." His eyes lit up as the implications sank in.

"I'm not sure I'm all that happy with the way this conversation is turning." James said coldly, crossing his arms and once again locking the younger man with his disapproving stare.

"I think in this case, necessity overrides propriety." Kim's Mom said, laying a comforting hand on her husband's arm. "Just like when they switched brains."

Kim turned deep crimson. There were certain…problems that arose during that crisis, not the least of which were situations very similar to what they were experiencing then. She had been a fifteen year old girl inside a fifteen year old boy's body. At first she had secretly been delighted to learn that he was in much better shape than she imagined. He was nearly as strong as she was, which helped tremendously when it came to fighting Shego and Drakken's goons.

No, the problems came when she got back home, and realized that her long-time best friend had downed quite a large quantity of pop before they brains got switched, and as a result, she ended up having to consult her mother on the problem.

Ron obviously had similar issues, but he never actually spoke of them. Fortunately, that sitch only lasted overnight, and they were back in their proper bodies the very next.

Kim had considered how the more physical aspects of their new relationship might unfold, not so much about 'if' certain things were going to happen, but when. In her mind, she was planning for their relationship to be around for the long-haul, regardless of what she had already told him about 'testing the waters.' Thinking along those lines was like planning to break up, and that kind of negative thinking couldn't be healthy for them.

Still, the 'when' that involved such things as taking a shower or bath together was a long, long way off…as in when they got married many years later, or at least when they were properly adults.

A whole plethora of uncomfortable situations were laid out in front of them. Besides her need for a shower, there were more immediate needs to think of, needs she didn't even know if she could accomplish given their predicament. She didn't even know if they would even be able to change clothes, let alone do things like go take care of 'business.'

James finally excused himself and basically made himself scarce as Kim's Mom put on her 'doctor's' hat and let the two upstairs to ponder exactly how they would accomplish the feat. They looked at each other, her Mom, the wall, even the beckoning tub, until finally Kim had to admit defeat, at least for the moment.

"I got nothin." She moaned, sitting down on the edge of the tub, taking Ron down with her.

"Maybe we could wear bathing suits?" Ron ventured.

"Now there is a capital idea." Kim's Mom replied.

"Uh, hello." Kim muttered. "That still means we have to change clothes. Exactly how are we supposed to do that?"

"It's nothing both of you haven't seen before, and in this case, I'm sure the both of you can be mature enough to behave properly." The older Possible said, looking her distraught daughter in the eye.

"Mom!"

"KP, how about this." He got her to stand back up, and with a little doing, he managed to shift the point their bodies were joined together to their upper backs.

"That is certainly interesting." Her Mom said. "Are you sure if you keep moving it around it simply won't let go?"

"We tried that, Mom. No dice."

"Hmmm. Well, at least let me go get your suits…if you can still wear the one we have here, Ronald."

Kim made a slight noise. "Big as they are, he could down nothing but Bueno Nacho and Cow and Chow for weeks and he could still wear them."

"Right." She left and moments later returned with the suits. "If you feel more comfortable, I can act as a chaperone."

"Uh…" It was Ron's turn to blush crimson.

"Oh relax. After all, I am a doctor."

"No offense, Mrs. Dr. P, but it's not my brain your gonna be looking at." He sputtered out.

"Suit yourself." She chuckled slightly.

"What's so funny?" He asked, craning his neck to he could see Kim, though just barely.

Kim rolled her eyes. "You're putting your suit on, yourself."

"Still got it." She said as she closed the door on the two of them.

It still was more difficult than they realized. Kim went first, Ron keeping his hands firmly clamped over his eyes lest he see something she didn't want him to in the mirror. Rufus, who had taken up station on the counter, did the same. He had to fight down the notion that, for a moment, Kim was partially naked as she slipped into a two-piece suit. She got him to help her shift their connection to their backsides so she could change tops, all the while with him shielding his eyes.

Kim returned the favor as he changed into the long board shorts.

"Well, we survived that ordeal." He said, letting out a huge sigh as he tied the string at his waist.

Kim favored him with a slight grin, even though he wasn't in a position to see it. "So me being naked in the same room with you is an ordeal?"

"Yes, I mean, no, I…mean. KP, you're beautiful, but I just don't think we're ready and all."

"I know, I'm just playing you, Ronnie. At least now we know we're not stuck in the same clothes. Not that it matters all that much for you." She picked up his red jersey, which had been discarded in a pile of clothes on the floor.

"Uh huh, yeah, so says the girl who wore the same lime-green tank top almost every day last year."

"Touché. So, you ready to take our first shower together?"

"Uh, sure?" He replied, not quite so sure he was 'sure.' "Hey, I just realized, I don't think I've ever seen you in a two-piece before."

Kim blushed slightly. "Monique talked me into buying it a couple days ago. I was hoping to let you see it the first time when the beach at Lake Middleton opens."

"Badical." He twisted around, trying to get a good look at it in the bathroom mirror. "I can't wait to see it on you, you know, without being stuck to your back."

"So, how do we do this?" She asked, pondering the tub.

"We uh, get wet?"

"Thank you, Captain Obvious." She reached back and gave his hand a slight squeeze. "Think we should wiggle around and face each other?"

He considered that for a moment, then shook his head. "Um, I don't think now's a good time, KP. Better stay back to back."

"Okay." She was slightly disappointed, until she realized...

...Ron probably had a good reason to be facing away from her, given the involuntary reaction his body must be having to their sitch.

* * *

Kim Possible and all related characters © Disney 


	11. Sleepless in Middleton

_**There's Still Fireworks**_**: Part XI**

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The clock was reading just past three in the morning, or at least it was the last time Kim looked at it. Her eyes remained open, not wanting to shut no matter how little sleep she had the last couple days. They remained fixed on the ceiling, though they weren't actually focused on the heavy wood beam just over their heads.

She should have been able to sleep. How many times had the two of them fallen into a deep slumber in that position in the past? At least Ron was able to sleep, though he was probably going to be paying for it in the morning. His head was resting on her shoulder, his arm draped around her stomach. What was so different, save for the fact they were once again connected at the hip?

Kim thought she would be enjoying the chance to spend the night curled up with him. It seemed so natural to wish for it to happen. She certainly enjoyed his touch, something she was coming to realize she had always known, but somehow blocked out.

Part of her problem was that she was dwelling on her decisions the day before. Being the child of a scientist and a doctor, she neither believed in luck or karma, yet it seemed she had gotten a heaping helping of the latter for going against her usual nature, first suggesting that Ron actually cut a class, then pretty much making out with him at school. She knew both were wrong the moment they happened, but her mind just wasn't working that way when it came to her boyfriend.

Was that what love did to a person? Did it make all common sense go right out the window? She kept thinking how she would have reacted if he had been the one to suggest skipping the last class of the day. There was a time when he would do so regularly, just to escape spending yet another hour with Mr. Barkin, or just head over to Bueno Nacho early, filling up on Nacos and other Tex-mex treats. Sometimes she would scold him for doing it, sometimes she would turn a blind eye. The latter came whenever she got the notion she was doing something to 'fix' him, bringing up the bad memories of when she'd tried doing so before.

That brought another question to her mind. The "L" word kept coming to her, unbidden whenever she thought of him. Did she love him? Unquestionably, the answer was yes, but what kind of love was it? For some reason, the thought of romantic love for him was…strange. That in itself led to even more confusion. Just as she liked his touch, she liked touching him – holding him close, kissing, sneaking a little, semi-innocent grope. All of that she liked and wanted to do more of, but was that just something she wanted to do with any male willing to do so, or was it something she only wanted to do with Ron?

Without a doubt, he was perhaps the best thing in her life. She didn't want to admit it to him at the time, but when he became so distraught about Kim spending time with Monique when they first met, she felt the same thing as well. The thought of them drifting apart as friends filled her with an almost unspeakable anguish.

But was that _that_ kind of love?

It was almost as if there were two separate issues at work. She loved him, and wanted to be with him, but that all seemed more tied to friendship. Making matters worse, the only way to test the other aspect of their new relationship was to try with someone else…to _play the field._ That thought alone was scary enough to keep her awake that night. What if her newfound craving for physical affection applied to somebody else, say, someone who was considered better 'boyfriend material.' Somebody more handsome, taller, stronger. Maybe there was somebody out there with Ron's personality, yet more responsible, with Josh Mankey's looks?

Only, doing so would only hurt Ron, and in turn just thinking about that hurt her just as deeply.

Still, she mentally ticked off the list of the guys she considered 'hotties' at school. Sure, Josh Mankey was still just as 'golden' as he was when she first laid eyes on him, but their personalities never actually jelled. He was still a friend, but she had finally come to understand that he was just a pretty picture. In the final estimation, he was, well, boring.

Bobby Johnson wasn't half bad to look at either, but there was no denying that part of her desire for the tall senior was just as she had blurted out under the thrall of the truth ray. Bonnie liked him, and he seemed a lot more attracted to the brunette than he was her, so he was a sort of forbidden fruit. If it weren't for her widespread fame as a teen hero, she was sure he wouldn't even know she existed.

Every now and again she would spot Walter Nelson around town. At thirteen, Kim had been all-to-pleased to kiss him, though the resulting orthodontic emergency resulted in a rather uncomfortable relationship between the two of them. It also became clear that he was a rather self-absorbed pretty boy, and word did get back to her that he was bragging about kissing her, something she loathed. Kim was actually happy when she learned he would attend Eastside instead of Middleton High.

Brick Flagg was…okay to look at and a lot nicer than she would have expected for somebody who could actually date Bonnie. Only he was dumb as a post, and a 'loveable oaf' just wasn't something Kim was into.

Yet, strangely, that was one way to describe Ron. He was short for a guy his age, rather narrow chested, with big ears and freckles so dark she could see them in the half-light of the darkened room. Prying her eyes from the ceiling, she looked at him as he slept. No, he wasn't golden, and probably never would be 'ripped,' yet she couldn't help but think that, for some reason, he was beautiful. As peaceful as he looked, one of his best features wasn't even visible.

Ron had the most wonderful brown eyes.

With a sigh, Kim tried putting her mind at ease. Who cared what kind of love she felt for him? She was sixteen and they were 'dating.' They weren't engaged, hadn't exchanged friendship rings, or anything like that. At that point in their lives they were doing exactly what they should be doing, testing the waters, enjoying each other's company and learning if there was something beyond that. They had a lot of living to do before needing any kind of deeper commitment.

Yet, somehow, she could easily picture the two of them growing old together, spending virtually their whole lives as one. Was that just a pleasant thought, or something deep inside of her trying to tell her that he was 'the one?"

Ron shifted positions slightly, and Kim realized she actually had dozed off finally, though she was only on the edge of sleep and not in the deep restfulness her body and mind craved. To the unaware, they looked like they were snuggled close, Ron turned slightly toward her, nestling his head in the hollow of her shoulder. It was the one position they found where they both could be reasonably comfortable, at least given the circumstances.

Part of her restlessness she didn't blame on the two of them being connected, but on the fact she wasn't able to even sleep in her own bed. The shower had been bad enough, though, given Ron's rather fortuitous suggestion about the bathing suits, it wasn't much different than rinsing the sand off themselves with one of those public showers at the beach. Neither was as clean as they would have preferred, and Ron being Ron, they did manage to land on their backsides once during the ordeal, but they managed.

No, her Dad could take them having to shower. He even accepted the necessity of the much more difficult and troubling bathroom breaks. Those were things he couldn't come up with a solution to that would sooth his fatherly instincts. Things were different when it came to bed time. There was no getting around them…'sleeping together.' It didn't matter they had pretty much slept in each other's arms on missions, but that was before the 'dating' element was even considered. The thought of them both together, in her bed…it was just something James Possible couldn't tolerate, not while he had some say in the matter.

Kim pulled the covers a little higher over her, trying to get comfortable on the couch. If she'd been trying to watch TV or read a book, she would have likely nodded off long ago, but deliberately sleeping on the couch just so the couple were in a 'public' part of the house just wasn't working. The whole idea was that either parent could make their way through there, and if they got any ideas in their heads besides taking their rest, there was a much greater chance they would be caught.

That made no sense to her. It wasn't like her parents weren't constantly in her room anyway. When she needed a bit of privacy, like changing clothes, there was a latch on the door to her loft, but that only served to tell a visitor she wanted to be left alone. A hard twist of the knob and it would open right up. Not that she would dare even close her door with Ron in the room, not by then, anyway.

They got another momentary reprieve where her twin brothers were concerned. Earlier that afternoon, while they carefully walked to Bueno Nacho (neither of them wished to arrive at their 'date' in her parent's mini-van) Kim's Mom hastily arranged for the Tweebs to sleep over at a friend's house. There was only so much ridicule she could take from the two of them, and with Ron dragging her down, at least physically, she wouldn't be able to kick their cans.

Not that they could escape it completely. After some doing, they managed to get into one side of their usual booth and were ready to spend some time slowly picking at the large tray of food (they over-bought so they wouldn't have to get up and go to the counter repeatedly) and feeding each other. Kim hadn't so much as gotten a chip to her boyfriend's mouth before a rather curvaceous shadow crossed their table.

"Oh, aren't the two of you so cute together. News flash, K, you were already on thin ice just being this loser's friend. Sitting here pretending like the two of you actually have something going on is going to cost you."

"So not the drama, Bonnie." Kim nearly growled back at the smug girl standing at the end of their table with her arms crossed. "Ron and I are dating and I don't care what you or your 'posse' think about it." To illustrate her point, she leaned over and gave Ron a brief but intense kiss, tugging on his lower lip as they broke content.

"Oh please. The whole school knows about that kiss in the hall. I still say it's nothing but an act. So tell me, Kim, how's it like to have a beard?"

Kim started rising, her hands balling into fists, only to hear Ron yelp in mild pain as he leg smacked against the table.

Bonnie's smirk widened. "When they say 'joined at the hip', K, they don't mean literally. Later losers." She tossed her hair as she walked away, swinging her wide, rounded hips from side to side as she went, as if she were wishing to entice the same male she had just demeaned.

"Ooooooo, that Bonnie! What makes someone like that?" She snarled, her fists pounding the table top, momentarily distracting Rufus from his bath of hand-pumped cheese like substance.

"KP, chill-ax. Ain't nothin Bon-Bon can say that will harsh my mellow while I'm here with my most Bon-Diggity lady."

Smiling slightly, she relaxed, settling back down into the seat. She even attempted a slight hip-bump, but the effect was lost since their hips were joined under the table. He got the gist of what she was trying to do, and leaned on his elbow, grinning stupidly at her.

"What's with that look?" She asked, before biting down on a burrito.

"Just thinking how lucky we are."

Kim gave his thigh a little squeeze under the table. "That's so sweet, Ronnie."

"Yeah. Just imagine if we weren't stuck to each other, like, maybe if you'd gotten stuck to Bonnie if that thing had gone of earlier."

"Puh-lease. I'm eating here." Kim gulped down the huge bite she had taken and pointed at the flour wrapped snackage. "It's bad enough I have to put up with that…with Bonnie at school, I don't think I could take being stuck to her even as long as we've been glued together. I would so go off the deep end." A wicked grin formed on her lips, and she looked at Ron with slitted eyes. "Maybe you could have spent the day stuck to Barkin."

"Aw man, that is sick and wrong in the worst possible way. Did you hear where he was going after he dropped us off? Rugby! KP, I went out for the school rugby team, and it's nothing more than an excuse to play 'kill the man with the ball.' Not to mention, I'd probably have to sleep with him. Kim, I'd be sleeping with Barkin! He probably does something weird in his sleep too!"

"Weird? Ron, come on, Mr. Barkin may be a little…strange sometimes…"

"I bet he even sleeps with a stuffed animal!" He blurted out.

"Ron, I sleep with Pandaroo." Kim said flatly, glaring at him.

"That's so different, you're a…"

"A girl?" Icicles hung from her words.

"Well, yeah, and you're…smaller."

"Oy." Kim rolled her eyes, digging back into her burrito.

"What are we going to do tomorrow if this hasn't worn off?" He asked, playing a momentary tug-of-war with Rufus over a chip.

"I dunno. Maybe go shopping."

"Ugh, shopping." Ron stuck his considerable tongue out momentarily.

"Wait, you said earlier this week you wanted to go hang at the mall." She put one hand on her free hip, once again glaring at him.

"S'ha, hangin. So different from your 'shopping.' Just chill, play some video games, grab some gherkins at Pickle-on-a-Pike."

"Ron, they put the mall there so they could have those stores all under one roof. It's meant for shopping."

He shook his head. "Kim, Kim, Kim, I still have so much to teach you."

"Hey, if this is another lecture about marinating…"

Before either one of them could realize it, the sun had not only set, but the moon was up and the stars were out. They managed to spend their entire allotted date time doing nothing more than what they had done on Friday nights for years.

In retrospect, neither would have had it any other way. It was the first real sign that taking the next step in their relationship wasn't going to hurt what they already had.

Rather than risk breaking curfew, they called Kim's Mom to come pick them up since it would take nearly twice as long to walk home. She glanced at them occasionally in the rear view mirror, smiling as they spent the ride home, resting their foreheads against each others.

What she didn't realize was that the bonding agent connection had temporarily migrated there, and it took a little doing for them to get their heads back apart.

Kim was finding out something about her boyfriend and prospective future-whatever-they-turned-out to be. At first she worried that he would snore. Case in fact, he did, but it was only a slight sound that didn't bother her. No, Ron was a covers thief. Once again she was reminded that there would have been plenty for both of them under the big, thick comforter on her bed, but that wasn't to be. Maybe she would feign extreme tiredness if they were still stuck together the following night and beg her parents to let them sleep up there, under the extreme promise nothing but sleeping would happen. Heck, she probably wouldn't have to feign anything at the rate she was losing sleep.

Ron shifted against her one more time…

…doing something that made her eyes snap wide open, chasing away even the slightest hint that she was about to finally nod off.

His hand, which had been firmly planted on the exposed part of her waist for the better part of the night, suddenly shifted northwards. In doing so, it had slipped under the light camisole tank she always wore to sleep in and had come to rest in a certain place.

She lay there frozen for a bit, caught between the shock of what he was doing and the surprise that, given better circumstances, she would have enjoyed it quite a great deal. She quickly flipped between that thought, and the mild shame it brought her that she did like it in a way.

That's when she realized, Ron wasn't snoring any more.

"Ron!" She hissed as quietly as she could.

"Mmmmm Hmmmmm." He moaned, obviously grinning in the dim light.

"This is so not the time or place."

He cracked an eye at her, his smile widening. "We're under the covers. Sorry, just couldn't resist the urge to steal second."

The baseball term escaped her for a moment, but there was still too much danger of them being caught if one or both parents decided to come downstairs right then.

"Ron, we can go to second plate…"

"Base." He corrected.

"…Base when we've got some private time. This is so not private."

"Okay. Sorry, KP."

She tilted her head back, almost ready to tell him there wasn't anything to apologize for, that was, until. "Uh Ron. You can move your hand now."

"I can't, Kim. It's stuck!"

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Kim Possible and all related characters © Disney


	12. The Goat Has Been Gotten

_**There's Still Fireworks**_**: Part XII**

* * *

**The Goat Has Been Gotten **

* * *

Shego liked pushing buttons.

Oh, they weren't the kind that were made of plastic and housed in a panel. Anyone could do that. It was just a matter of reaching out with your fingertip and pushing downwards. She did enough of that sitting at the master video screen panel, trying to dull the boredom that came from sitting around the lair without anything constructive to do.

No, the buttons she liked to push weren't something you could reach with just your finger.

The object of her pass-time was pacing back and forth in the vast central chamber of their latest lair. To her, it looked just like any other, the interior painted a ghastly shade of dark red, with huge braces mounted on the walls of what had once been a mountaintop fortress of some medieval despot.

Her attitude would have been a little different if he'd come up with a logical reason for building a new lair. Maybe something like it being too easy for Possible to find them at their home base in the Caribbean. Unfortunately, he was making little pretense of actually hiding what they were doing. If she had her druthers, the exterior of the old castle would have been left alone, but that didn't fit into his plans.

Instead, the outside was fitted with glittering spires, some of which reached into the heavens like the spiky precipice of the big baddie's fortress in that incredibly long trilogy about an evil ring. It was only after Drakken forced her to sit and watch the DVD's of the whole thing in one sitting that he hatched his current plan. If she didn't know any better, she'd think he was deliberately trying to emulate what he'd seen there.

No, she did know better. It was highly likely that was exactly what he was doing.

That irked her to no end, especially since, at the end of the day-long movie marathon, that particular fortress was sent tumbling to the ground when the big-bad was defeated by those hairy footed midgets. It irked her enough that she had to do something to lighten her foul mood.

Time to push some buttons.

Drakken was not only pacing the length of the floor, he was giving orders to his hooded goons. He might have been a mad genius when it came to designing ridiculously complicated doomsday devices and the convoluted plans that went along with them, but he was utterly useless with tools in his hand. That meant getting the poorly educated excuses for henchmen to do the heavy work for him. In doing so, he was in reality much like many other scientists who relied on large, complex machines.

There were a number of ways she could get his goat. For one, she could simply start tapping his shoulder, or, she could blow on his neck to get his attention. It was rather obvious the man did not like other people touching him. Personal space for Doctor Drakken wasn't just a preference, it was a way of life.

All of those ways of bothering him were rather easy, but her personal favorite was easier still.

As usual, his constant orders and badgering of his crimson cohorts had turned into one of his trademark rants. With the silence that came with her quasi-ninja training, Shego came up behind him and simply stood there, adopting her own trademark, a look of unconcern and pure boredom.

"…and once my plan is in motion, and the world sees what they're up against, all will bow down to…"

Drakken stopped suddenly, wheeling around on his heels and snarled at her. "Will you stop hovering like that?!"

The sudden intensity and rage in his voice surprised even her. For half a moment, she was actually at a loss for words. "I…er…I…eh heh…" The look on her face was like a child caught with his hand in the cookie jar. It was one thing to get his goat, it was quite another to get him angry like that. Normally, he was all bark and no bite, but there had been times when she'd pushed him just a smidge too far when he had actually been somewhat threatening, like the time when she'd lost his body while he was trapped in that lame Army private's form.

He turned back to his 'work,' ignoring her once more.

Shego stood her ground, her embarrassment slowly turning to anger. She wanted to push his buttons, and she was going to do that. How dare he ruin one of her favorite pleasures just because he was feeling a little snippy that day? Finally, as he stood there silently, watching his henchmen, she had enough.

"I wasn't hovering!" She bellowed at him, making a fist that momentarily sparked with tiny green flames.

He slowly turned around, his face still angry, though not as intensely as it had been only moments earlier. Apparently whatever had triggered his sudden outburst had already been spent. She put it off to him burning the candle at both ends as he usually did during that stage of his whack plans.

"Don't play that game with me, Shego. Anything within the radius of a foot and a half distance is considered hovering." He glowered at her for a moment, his eyes narrowing when she remained rooted to the same spot, almost precisely that distance from him.

Time for another button, she thought.

"What lame-o plan are you working on now?" Despite the fact he had just been ranting about that very thing, he actually hated it when people asked questions.

He stood his own ground for a moment, his arms crossed, his eyes locked with hers. For a strange moment she realized his black-looking eyes were actually very dark blue, though that could have been a trick of the light, or just a by-product of whatever had turned the rest of his body cerulean.

"If you must know, it's called the Atmosphere Disrupter. It will make the air of the entire planet completely unbreathable, so if anyone wants to actually breath, they will have to bow to my will, making me ruler of the entire world!"

"Blah-blah-blah, Doc. Have you considered we have to breath the air too?"

He blinked, his jaw drooping slightly as he stared at her. Once again, he was so focused on the kernel of his idea that he had left and important factor out of consideration. Rapidly, he covered his gaff.

"All of that will be taken care of in due course, Shego. After all, we have to build the weapon first." He clasped his hands behind his back and sauntered across the room, sitting down at the master console, randomly pushing buttons, though the screen itself remained off.

Shego was right on his heels, Taking up a position precisely one and a half feet from his left shoulder.

Sensing she was there, he popped back to his feet, glaring at her with his arms crossed once more. She glared right back at him, matching his scowl. Slowly, a quirky smile spread across her black-glossed lips.

Drakken shrank away from her slightly as her smile turned into an implausible come-hither expression. For the moment, she didn't know if she was actually still trying to push his buttons, or if something still remained of the strange feelings the Moodulator had instilled in her.

"Betcha like it when I hover." She whispered, pursing her lips as if in a prelude to a kiss.

Drakken's eyes shot wide open. The last thing he was expecting was for her to say something like that, or to look at him that way. Almost senselessly he turned around and sat back down, though this time he didn't make any move to act like he was operating the console. After a moment like that, he looked back over his shoulder and grinned at her with a funny little crooked smile like she had only seen on the buffoon.

Her heart actually skipped a beat when her mind registered what he said next. "Yes."

Shego was still reeling from that when he looked at the ceiling, as if he realized the ramifications of what he'd just said. "Er, I mean no." He muttered. "I…I mean…I mean…"

Taking a chance, she slipped even closer to him, hooking her chin over his left shoulder. The feel of her cheek against his neck sent a ripple through her she wasn't completely expecting. Every test Drakken had run on her over the past week said that she was completely free of the Moodulator's influence, so why was she feeling so good touching him that way.

"Ahem." Drakken cleared his throat, his eyes narrowing once more. He stood up and grabbed her shoulders, though not roughly, and shoved her a few feet away from him.

"Go stand over there!" He ordered, giving her one good shove.

"That's what I thought." She snickered gleefully, as if her mission had been accomplished.

Her smugness evaporated as she wandered away from the work going on around her boss. In one moment he seemed receptive to her strange attraction. In her mind, she imagined his unseen eyes closing for a moment when her skin touched his, but that wasn't enough to blot out what really was an utter rejection of the same advances.

Drakken obviously didn't feel anything for her. That much seemed clear enough to her. On the surface, it bothered her because of her vanity. She knew she was a very sexy, very desirable young woman. More than once she had to teach the more brazen of Drakken's henchmen that she wasn't available for some dimwitted lackey's attentions. A dark cloud formed over her head as she stomped down the hallway to where her personal apartment was set up.

The real hurt of the rejection went a little deeper, though she wouldn't acknowledge it.

"Gah! What am I thinking?" She muttered aloud as she locked the door behind her. Why worry about whether she could have any kind of feelings for him when she could have pretty much any man she please? It wasn't as if he was some kind of catch. All the better to think of him as the boss, or, as he once put it, that they were some kind of evil family.

She sat down on the end of his divan, clutching a pillow to her chest as if it were a stuffed animal she hadn't seen since she left her former life behind in Go City.

* * *

Kim and Ron sat together (obviously) at the breakfast table, alternately glancing at themselves and the unfurled newspaper that hid her Dad. That, and his mannish hands at its edges were all she had seen of him since they had come down from her room that morning. At any moment they both expected him to fold that paper up and calmly set it on the table, fixing each of them with his steely gaze, his jaw set as he considered what punishment he would hand down on the naughty teens across the table from him. 

Up until that moment earlier that morning, both of them thought they had gained…the upper hand over their sitch. They were stuck together until the solvent could be found, but they figured they were actually in control of how their bodies were joined. Maybe there was more of the stuff lurking just below the surface of their skin, or maybe they just got into a position where the bond had shifted unexpectedly. They had no clue which.

The problem was that, unlike most of the day before, they couldn't quite get the leverage they needed to shift the bond back to their side and hip. Not only was Ron's hand rooted to where it had come to rest, so was his entire arm. That made them think back to their ordeal in Barkin's office. It had taken both of them prying, along with help from the large man, to get their arms free at the time.

That made them both think the unthinkable. They would somehow have to get up, cross the room, climb the main staircase and do something Kim would normally never consider – going into her parent's room uninvited. Not only that, it would be painfully obvious that at least Ron had been up to no good on the couch, despite her Dad's best designs.

They redoubled their efforts to get disentangled from each other on their own.

Moving the contact point was like moving the sticky residue of a label that had been peeled off. They could get it off one place, but they couldn't get it to let go completely. Ron finally managed to get his elbow and part of his arm loose, but his hand remained firmly attached, not having any place for the bond to go. It was clear he would have to get first his fingers, then his hand free and let the bond travel back down his arm, the same way it apparently had come.

They were still struggling like that when the stairway light came on. Moments later, a lithe figure was silhouetted in the door.

Both of them flushed deep crimson, so much so that it was probably visible in the dim light. To make matters worse, Kim's top had been pulled partially up so she could assist with her own hands.

The scene looked far worse than it actually was. It had the appearance of them struggling to get her top completely off, though it had only been pulled up for purely practical purposes.

Kim's Mom didn't say a word, only set to helping them get back to their previous status quo. Once that had been accomplished, she shooed them up to her room, figuring there they might actually do some sleeping after getting caught once.

Exhausted, and utterly humiliated, Kim quickly fell into a deep sleep once she was in her own bed, despite the fact they were both facing execution later that morning. Ron, being Ron, wasn't far behind her, though his hands remained propped behind his head the remainder of the night, lest his hands go 'exploring' in his sleep.

The kitchen was awfully quiet that morning, neither adult speaking to them as they sat down to a breakfast of eggs and bacon. Kim had an odd thought that perhaps it wasn't proper to be serving her boyfriend a pork product, but she quickly remembered he would eat just about anything, whether it was considered kosher or not.

Kim almost spit her fried egg out and Ron tried to shrink under the table when her Dad finally spoke.

"Ronald, what exactly are your plans for my Kimmie-cub?"

They looked at each other once more, both of them swallowing hard.

"I…uh…we…"

James looked over the top of his paper, his face much more pleasant than either of them expected it to be. Somehow, he didn't have the look of righteous retribution.

"I understand your cousin Reuben is getting married next week. I was just wondering if you were going to take Kim along with you…as a date."

The teens both sat there slack jawed for a moment. Kim finally looked over at her Mom, who fixed her with her own steely glare for a moment, then smiled tenderly at her.

"I hadn't thought about that much, Dr. P. I've kinda had my hands full the last couple days...OW!" He yelped as Kim roughly jabbed him in the ribs.

James caught the motion, but apparently didn't know the why behind it. He just grinned at them. "Girls, girls. Don't make me separate you two. Separate you two. The old man's still got it."

"Ha-ha, separate…funny." Ron laughed half-heartedly.

"So not funny, Dad." Kim muttered. She took one more bite of her eggs, then gave Ron's knee a slight squeeze. "I didn't know Reuben was getting married. Why didn't you mention it, Ron?" Kim asked, still shocked that her Mom apparently had kept the early morning festivities to herself.

"I kinda sorta've been blocking it out. It's complicated."

Kim rolled her eyes slightly. Once they were free from each other there would be time to get a proper explanation from her paramour.

"I think it might be a foregone conclusion who might be coming back with the bouquet." Kim's Mom said as she sat down at the table with her own plate of food. She gave her daughter a slight wink.

Kim blushes as James glared at Ron. Much as he liked the boy, sixteen was far to young for them to be considering such things as marriage.

They were spared any further discussion on the subject when the Kimmunicator beeped from the corner of the table. Kim picked it up, wiping her mouth with one hand as she pressed the accept button with the other. "Hey, Wade."

"Morning, Kim. I've been getting some funny biometric readings from the Kimmunicator…"

"No big." She quickly changed the subject, both wanting to steer the convo away from what may have caused those readings, and wondering exactly what her tech-guru could see with the device's sensors when it was supposed to be turned off. "Wade, tell me I about to lose one hundred forty pounds." She glanced over at Ron, who didn't even seem to notice the reference to his weight as he hungrily downed another strip of bacon.

"Sorry, not yet. But I thought you should know I've been registering power surges all over the globe."

"Dementor!" Kim growled.

"I haven't been able to pin down an epicenter yet, but I'll let you know the moment I do."

"Please and thank you." She chirped pleasantly as she shut the device off.

Putting her hand over Rons, she twined her fingers with his, giving them a slight squeeze. "Looks like we get to spend the day together."

"Booyah! So, what's it going to be? Batting cages?"

"I don't think so. How are you going to swing a bat without hitting me in the head?"

"Oh." He seemed lost in thought for a moment. "The pool at the Y is open. We could chill, and maybe you could wear that…" He trailed off as her Dad's expression darkened slightly. He still wasn't completely on-board with the fact they still had to bathe together.

"If I went to the pool there, I'd want to swim some laps, and I don't see that happening with you attached to me. How about some shopping. They have a new color at the makeup counter than I think would work for me."

"KP, you don't need makeup, you're fine the way you are."

She gave him a light kiss on his cheek. "That's sweet, but I still want to try it out."

"I dunno, Kim. Me, at the makeup counter, dodging the sales-girls who like to spray cologne on you…not my scene."

"Pwease?"

Ron froze. That word alone told him what he would see when he looked back at his girlfriend. Her bottom lip would be sticking out, and her already large green eyes would be the size of saucers. Her 'rents might have been able to resist, but he was utterly powerless against one of her most powerful weapons.

"You're doing the Puppy-Dog-Pout, aren't you?"

"Wouldn't my big, strong boyfriend want to do anything to please me?" She asked, still using the stilted voice.

Unable to stop himself, he finally looked over at her, getting the PDP at full power.

"Okay." He said, surrendering to her superior tactics.

"…but not cologne!" He said as she dragged him away from the table and up the stairs so they could change into their day clothes.

* * *

a/n - The Drakken/Shego scene is adapted directly from Skinny-Mini's "Stop Hovering" comic on DevArt. She's got some really great stuff, and you can see some of it in my favorites there. Her rendition of them is dead-on model. You can also see where the story is going next, if you're paying attention.

* * *

Kim Possible and all related characters © Disney 


	13. Don't Look Down

_**There's Still Fireworks**_**: Part XIII**

* * *

_Put one hand out, grab a hold, pull! Move a foot, get a toehold, put the other hand out!_

Kim kept repeating that in her mind, over and over, fighting the fatigue in her muscles, hoping they would hold out long enough. Two lives depended on it.

Glancing over her shoulder, she checked on that second life, her face a mixture of concern and agitation. She had climbed with gear before, but never supporting both her gear and a small but full-grown man at the same time. The thought did occur to her that perhaps her current approach wasn't the wisest, but then again, she thought she would have some degree of help with the ascent. Almost longingly, she looked at the gentle, though winding road that led to the summit, clearly visible from the sheer rock wall they were on.

No, the road might have been easier, but she was trying to be sneaky.

At least Ron was quiet. If he was conscious he would likely have been talking constantly, as if he never quite got that it was a key ingredient to being sneaky. Kim might have had very strong feelings for him, perhaps even loved him, but that didn't mean he was without his bad points.

After over twenty-four hours of being attached to him, some of those bad points were starting to show through.

Kim tried putting such negative thoughts out of her mind as she concentrated on her climb. It was no use. They kept bubbling to the surface with every tug on her strained muscles.

It started with them getting dressed.

Being, at heart, a slacker, Ron should have been able to just take it easy while Kim got into her black jeans and teal top. Kim selected the outfit simply because it was easy to get into under normal circumstances and the spring morning had turned a little more chilly than it had been the last week. A crop top and capris were out of the question.

She didn't know whether her Mom giving them a free ride that morning or just her boyfriend wanting to test the boundaries of their new relationship was the problem, but he seemed…bolder as she changed out of her pajamas.

"What are you doing now? He asked as she pondered exactly how she was going to put her bra on.

"Getting dressed, doy." She snapped, realizing he no longer had his hands clamped over his eyes, though he was looking the other direction.

"What's taking so long? You're usually dressed so fast I don't even have time to cover my eyes."

Kim made a slightly rude noise and pulled the top over her head. "I don't usually have somebody glued to my back either. Now hold still for a moment. I'm trying to get my pants on."

She almost jumped with enough force to free herself from him when his large fingers gently brushed the temporarily exposed curve of her backside.

"Ron!" She hissed.

"Sorry. Just thought we had a little privacy."

Kim shook her head, despite the knowledge he probably couldn't see her do it. "So not. Daddy could pop his head through that hatch at any moment, and if he sees your hand there…"

"Aw, come on, KP. Your Mom is probably running interference for us right now."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

He shrugged his shoulders, a move that almost had the two of them lose their balance as Kim tried stepping into her jeans. "She didn't seem to upset about last night."

"More like we learned out lesson…like _you_ learned your lesson, or at least she probably thinks so. What if your hand got stuck to me again?"

"Uhhhhh."

"Okay, I've got most of my clothes on. Your turn."

"Kim, I, uh, I'm sorry I did that. I don't know what got into me."

Kim wanted to touch his face, but she couldn't since he was facing the other way. "Ronnie, don't be sorry. To be perfectly honest…I kinda liked it. Up to the point we realized we were stuck that way, at least."

She could feel him shake his head. "No, it wasn't right. I should have asked about it first. You know, communicate, make sure you're okay with…wait…you liked it?"

"A little. I don't know what shocked me more, that you did it, or that I enjoyed it. I…hadn't really thought about things like that before. I mean, I've thought about, you know."

"Uh."

"Don't get freaked because I've thought about us, the two of us…"

"The two of us, yeah, I got it KP."

"It's just something you have to consider. It doesn't mean I've made any plans for it or anything, but I just can't ignore the fact that we might eventually…"

Ron zipped up his pants and let his jersey fall down over the waist, though it remained bunched up where their backs were stuck together. It remained there until they started twisting, laboriously moving their connection back to their hips so the could sit on the end of the bed and put their shoes on.

"Look, Ron, about Mom. I don't think she's letting us off the hook as easily as you think. She just knows that Dad would overreact to something like that. I get the sneaking suspicion that the moment the two of us are alone…"

"We're alone right now." He said as he pulled on his shabby, no longer white sport socks.

"I mean when it's just Mom and me. She's going to want to have a talk with me about it."

Ron pulled a face. "You mean she hasn't given you 'the Talk?'"

Kim popped him very lightly on the forehead. "Of course she has, silly. It's just…now it has a practical application."

"A practi-what?"

"It means something now. Before the biggest thing I ever had to worry about was whether I was going to kiss a guy or not."

Ron got a slightly devilish grin. "You made up your mind pretty quick with Walter."

"Ugh. Yeah, and look what happened to me for being so impulsive. The point is, kissing isn't an issue for us. Other stuff…is." She leaned back on her arms slightly, or as much as their connection would allow. "The first time we talked, it was mostly about the mechanics of it, you know, how women get pregnant, stuff like that. Now she's probably going to come at me with stuff like I'm a responsible young woman and I can make my own decisions, but I'm still just sixteen." She reached up and brushed back a bit of his hair. "You know, I don't think I've ever asked what you think."

"What I think? KP, I'm a guy."

She shook her head. "I'm serious, Ron. Just turn off being a guy for a moment and tell me what you want."

"Turn off being a guy? I have no idea what that means. I just want what you want, Kim."

"Ron, that's sweet, but what I want and what you want can't always be the exact same thing. If that were true I wouldn't have to drag you to some of those movies you don't want to see."

He shot her another sly grin. "I don't think I mind those movies so much any more."

Sitting up straight, she gave him a very light kiss on the lips. "You just want to make out. Come on, Ron. Do you think we should wait?"

He considered that for a very long moment, his 'serious' face slowly forming, all traces of his normal humor sloughing off as he gave it some real thought. "I really don't know what to think. I've kinda always gotten the idea it was up to the girl to say when, and a guy just went along with it when she was ready, cause that's what we're supposed to do."

"Is that what you really think, or just what other guys have told you to? Deep inside, what is it you really want?"

"I dunno. Well, I do know. I mean, it's not like I don't want to. I do. I really, really do, so bad sometimes it hurts, for real. But that's the guy talking. I think…" He stopped and rubbed his forehead. "KP, I don't know what to think. I've got people telling me it's a normal, natural thing to do and I've got people telling me it's horrible and wrong. It's just so confusing. How can something so good be so bad?"

Kim sighed, sitting back again. "Maybe that's the answer."

"What is? I don't have one."

"Just that. Maybe this is one of those sitches that if you have to ask…"

"…you can't afford it?" They finished together.

"Jinx, you owe me a soda." Kim got in quickly, giving his waist a light pinch. "That's precisely it. If we're so confused about it being right or not, that means it's not."

Ron finally finished tying his dilapidated sneakers. "I understand…I think. But what about the other stuff?"

"Other stuff?"

He answered by holding up his left hand, wriggling the fingers. Kim immediately flashed back to having those fingers stuck to her flesh. "Second base. Third base, whatever that is."

"You mean you don't know?" She grinned slightly, not quite ready to admit she wasn't sure herself.

"I kinda sorta have the general idea. Like, everybody knows what home plate is."

"Doy. Better leave off third base then. For now."

"Uh, Kim, what if we get to third and don't know it?"

She grinned softly at him. "I kinda think we'd know. For the moment, just consider yourself safe at second."

He leaned toward her, making as if he were reaching for her once more.

"Not that safe, buster."

By the time the two of them finally made it to Middleton Mall, Kim was finally starting to feel the lack of sleep she had experienced the night before. It started with the walk there, a normally leisurely stroll that quickly turned into a much more daunting task. At first they tried walking like any other 'new' couple, their arms wrapped around each other's waist, holding each other close as if that was the only contact they would have in the near future.

Kim wasn't sure if it was because she was just irritable, or if walking that way wasn't her thing, but after maybe a half mile, she was sick of it. It seemed like every eye was on them, and it didn't matter if they knew the person or not, for some reason such public intimacy didn't sit well with her.

That made her think about the two of them once again. Just a day earlier she had dared fate (and got slapped down by it) by kissing him there for all the world to see, but there, the next day, she was just a bit too self-conscious to be completely comfortable. It wasn't that she didn't like his touch. On the contrary, she craved it, but for some reason she didn't like showing it off so completely out in public.

If she had felt silly walking arm in arm, it only got worse when they tried walking with their hands at their sides.

Heads were still turning as they made their way around the mall. Her tweak seemed to multiply as she forced them toward the makeup counter at one of the main anchor stores. She barely got a bit of eyeliner on from the samples before she noticed the face her boyfriend was making.

"What?" He asked perfunctorily.

Ron shrugged. "I dunno. Just, what's the point? You've already got huge eyes."

"What's wrong with my eyes?"

"That's what I'm saying, Kim. There's nothing wrong with them. You don't need all that stuff."

She grunted at him slightly, going back to her work. It occurred to her that maybe she should have acknowledged the comment as a compliment, but her growing frustration simply pushed that line of thinking aside.

"Got to do something, since I don't have the most beautilicious eyes in the whole school." She griped as she tried on some eye shadow.

"Kim, are you going to keep bringing that up?"

She turned her glare on him. "Why not. It's the truth. You can't tell me it isn't, because you had to tell the truth when you said it."

"Kim, we've talked about this."

"Yeah? So, what am I, a close second? Distant third? Maybe Bonnie's freaky teal eyes are prettier to you?"

"Kim!" Ron pleaded, sensing he had no good answer for her.

Getting a good look at his eyes, it finally dawned on her what she was doing. "I'm sorry, Ron, I'm just tired."

"It's okay, Kim. I know how cranky you can be when you…"

"When I what?" Anger flared in her eyes once more.

He was about to speak when the Kimmunicator went off. _Saved by the Wade,_ he thought, realizing he would just be digging his own grave by telling her how snippy she was capable of being at certain points of the month.

Wade popped up on the small screen. "I don't have an exact fix, but Dementor's location is somewhere in central Europe."

"We're on our way." Ron leaned toward the pick-up, eager to get away from the mall and all the other places guys weren't supposed to be seen, and to take Kim's mind off their building tiff.

"Whoa! I can't leave for Europe right now. I've had, like, two hours of sleep, and I've got an eyebrow waxing scheduled."

Ron couldn't believe it was actually Kim Possible saying that. Just how much sleep had she lost? "You know, Dementor probably has what we need to get unstuck."

Wade scratched his head, wondering himself why she was acting that way. "I don't have a ride lined up for you yet, but I'm sure you can catch some sleep on the way."

"Fine." She switched off the device and put it back in her pants pocket.

About halfway to the salon, Ron stopped abruptly in his tracks. "Wait, eyebrow waxing? What's that about?"

"Just come on." She started that way again, tugging him along with her.

"This isn't one of those things I'm not supposed to think about…you're uh, not getting some other…"

"No, Ron, I'm not getting a bikini wax…again." She let that sink in, hoping to derail that train of thought.

Ron just gave her a funny look as she settled into the chair, utterly perplexed at what was being done to her. He was still pondering that when the Kimmunicator chirped once more and she pressed it into his hands to answer.

"Oh, hi, Ron. I traced Dementor to the Bavarian Alps."

"Coolio! we could be just in time for Festival!"

"Uh, Ron, that's Brazil. Bavaria is in Europe."

"Um, sure. We'll, uh, leave in an hour."

"An hour?" Wade raised an eyebrow, being accustomed to Kim always being ready to leave at a moment's notice.

Ron started to answer, when a harsh ripping sound came from a room separated from them by a curtain, followed by a short scream. Glancing over at Kim, he realized what was about to happen to her.

"Don't ask." He replied, shutting it off.

* * *

Kim grimaced a little as her goggles dug into her freshly waxed skin. Maybe it would have been a better idea to forgo the treatment for the moment, but she had gotten it in her head she was going to do what she planned that Saturday morning, no matter what, and once she set her mind to something…

She spared a glance down the rock face. It looked like there was nothing but soft, fluffy snow beneath them, but she knew better. A fall from that height would be the last thing either one of them would ever do.

Ron stirred slightly, making her hope he was finally coming around. The Air Force jet they had taken from Colorado to the Air Base in Germany wasn't nearly as comfortable as she would have liked, and it seemed like she wasn't going to get to sleep anyway. One of the crew learned about that and offered her something that would help her sleep.

Kim didn't like taking things like sleep aids, so she simply accepted the bottle and put it in her equipment belt, explaining she'd try them later rather than offend the very people helping her get to her target. She'd pretty much forgotten about them when they started their climb.

Actually, she had to admit, the extra weight aside, it was actually easier climbing by herself than trying to coordinate with Ron. They had gone maybe a hundred feet when he lost his grip. They had a safety line in place, but they still fell hard, the line jerking them upwards once they reached its end.

What Kim didn't count on was Ron flailing around, knocking the bottle loose and sending it flying. Once she got herself situated once more, she looked back, seeing him holding his throat.

"I think I swallowed something, KP." He wheezed.

It turned out that he had swallowed at least two of the pills, putting him out like a light inside of ten minutes.

He was groggily coming to just as she reached the top. From there, only a concertina topped chain-link fence barred their way. With Ron waking up, finally, they easily cut their way through, running through the snow."

"Are we even sure this is the right place?" Ron asked, blinking back sleep.

"It's Dementor's lair alright." She motioned toward a small, well-lit building that looked like a miniature of the Tudor-style main complex.

"A gift shop?" Ron said. "Man, that is just sick and wrong!"

"I remember when it used to be about the villainy." She grunted.

"Oh cool, he's got Jelly Jumpies!"

"Jumpies!" Rufus squeaked, popping his head out of Ron's jacket pocket.

"Ron, no!" She tried stopping him, but it was too late. His hand closed around the box of Dementor shaped candies, tripping the sensors, setting off blaring alarm klaxons and worse.

Even against the bright lights of the souvenir stand, the green security beams nearly blinded the two of them.

Kim blinked through tears, realizing the two of them were trapped.

* * *

Kim Possible and all related characters © Disney 


	14. Doxies of Doom

_**There's Still Fireworks**_**: Part XIV**

* * *

"Oh great." Kim muttered, staring at the 'bars' of iridescent light. Ron almost reached for them, as if they were actually made of iron, but she jerked him back before his gloved hands could come into contact with them. He managed a sheepish grin as she pondered how they were going to escape.

Her desire to clamp her hands over her ears was renewed as the alarms suddenly changed from something reminiscent of a European police car siren to blaring music with a decidedly marshal overtone.

Dementor apparently had his own theme music!

Kim's mind raced as she tried to figure a way out of their current jam. Her first thought was to call Wade and have him do something to the controls, but that thought was discarded almost as quickly as it had formed. Whatever the amber hued professor was up to, it had completely cut her off from 'technical support.' The nascent couple were on their own.

Another sound made itself known over the blasting music. At first, she expected a squad of rent-a-goons to descend from the skies using their jet-packs, but instead something that looked like a very large snowmobile appeared from the tree-line, pulling to a skidding stop directly across from them.

She made a mental note that the arrival of the umber-colored vehicle was timed to coincide with the climax of the theme music. With a hiss of steam, or perhaps smoke, Dementor made his appearance at the top of the descending staircase, obviously calculating that his position would make it seem like he was towering over the two of them.

He took a moment to cackle with insane laughter before surrendering his vantage point, jumping down to the ground in front of them, glaring upwards at his teenaged foe with as much glee as he had mustered from above. "I see you fell for my gift shop trap!"

Glancing over at her boyfriend, Kim muttered, "Well, one of us did!"

"Okay, fine, blame me. I'm sorry. Now it's time for us to go upside. Rondo came to play!"

"Ron!" She growled, just as her eyes came to rest on a large snow-globe sitting in the middle of the counter. With a slight grin, she grabbed it, ripping it free from the tri-wires attached to its base.

Dementor cocked his head to one side like a curious puppy as she held the glass object right in the path of several 'bars,' deflecting them to the sides, giving the two of them just enough room to slip through. His reverie lasted just long enough for her to hurl it into his stomach, making him double over for just a moment.

"Hahaha! Too late. My men have already unleashed the dachshunds!" He screamed, clutching his midsection.

"Dachshunds? Oh man, you've got to be kidding me!" Ron laughed. "We're supposed to be scared of little wiener dogs?"

He managed to look up just as a larger door on the vehicle opened. It didn't take long for his mind to register exactly why Kim was frozen in her tracks.

Teeth snapped and their breath steamed in the frigid air as the Dachshunds leapt from their confines, dragging helmeted henchmen along with them. Dark brown fur bristled in the moonlight as the enraged canines advanced on the pair.

"Weiner, yes. Little, no." Kim said softly as her hands went up in surrender.

* * *

"Did he really have to tie both of us up?" Ron quipped, squirming in his bonds. "You know, since we're stuck together, it's not like I'd be going anywhere if he just tied you up."

"Ron, I don't think he even noticed we're glued together. He's been too busy gloating about capturing me…I mean us, and he's not Doctor Drakken. I think he's too smart to take that kind of chance.

"Well, for just once I wish somebody would. My nose is itching!"

"Quiet, here he comes."

"At least there aren't any monkeys." He muttered

"Shhhh."

" So Kim Possible...and…you! You thought you could sneak in he undetected. Well, your arrival will not deter me from my ultimate goal! Soon the world will tremble before the

awesome might of Professor Dementor! Behold!" He waved his hand toward a small alcove. Kim immediately recognized the stolen device, only it was hooked up to something else. She squinted in the diminished light, trying to decide if it was some sort of genetic splicer, or, being in keeping with Professor Dementor's usual preferences, something that would manipulate energy in some way.

There was a soft ding, making her realize it was nowhere near as nefarious. To her surprise, it was a coffee maker. What's more, it was a relatively cheap automatic drip coffeemaker, instead of a more high-classed expresso machine.

The liquid inside was significantly lighter in color than the dark brew she would have expected. The tantalizing scent of fresh chocolate reached her nose just as a hulking goon added two lumps of sugar to the cup he was preparing for his boss.

Ron, being a bit more in tune with all matters involving food, realized first what it was. "Cocoa? Dude, you stole that kinetic whatchamacallit just to make cocoa?"

"Humph" He grunted, taking a sip from the cup before handing it back to the goon. "It is very good cocoa, but I also plan to bend the world to my will with my **Counter Electro-Dynamic Concentrator!" **Pudgy yellow fingers swept up, pointing to a large device rising up from the floor.

Kim nodded in satisfaction, "Ah, that's more like it."

"What is?" Ron asked, licking his lips slightly as he watched the goon refill the cup.

"Head in the game, Ron." Kim whispered, as Dementor suddenly got in both their faces, his face awash in red light.

"With this, I will absorb the power from all electronic devices. The world will have to pay me to use their cell phones, TVs, und video games. And there is nothing you can do to stop me, Kim Possible! **Nothing!**"

'Dude, what's with the flashlight?" Ron asked, fighting back laughter.

"This?" Dementor looked down at what literally was a flashlight with a red lens in his hands. "You don't like my Dramatic Villain Light?"

"It's a flashlight!"

"ENOUGH! Loyal Henchmen, tie them to the central collector!" He wandered off, muttering to himself in German.

It was becoming increasingly clear that Professor Dementor's status as a having a slightly better grip on sanity compared to their other foes was somewhat in error. He always seemed significantly more competent and, well, together than his nearest counterpart, Doctor Drakken. Perhaps the former was actually true, and that might have been a blessing in disguise. They heard a great deal less from him mostly because he took time carefully planning his nefarious capers, meaning he wasn't likely to act on some insane idea and make it up as he went along like the azure tinted supervillain.

Kim and Ron didn't have to discuss any of that amongst themselves as they were tied up to the central collector of his latest invention, the Counter Electro-Dynamic Concentrator. Not, at least, after being captured with the help of giant, mutant Dachshunds, then forced to watch as the height-challenged, jaundiced villain used his stolen technology to power a small coffee maker, making 'very good' hot cocoa with it.

Ron nearly bust a gut when he approached his prisoners holding a red-lensed flashlight to his chin, trying to look dramatically villainous.

"There's something awfully familiar looking about this Counter-Electro-whatchamahooie thingy." Ron observed, trying to crane his neck to see the onion shaped globe that topped it.

"Focus Ron. It doesn't matter what it looks like if we're both going to go poof once he starts it."

"Sorry, KP. I guess I'm sorry about a lot of stuff."

"Like setting off the trap and getting us captured?" She glared at him a moment, but the anger itself was only fleeting. It wasn't the first time, and if they somehow managed to get out of their predicament, it wouldn't be the last.

"No. Well, yeah, I'm sorry about that, but most of all, I'm sorry I haven't been a very good boyfriend to you."

"What are you talking about, Ron?"

"You know." He said dejectedly.

"I know what? You said it yourself, we need to communicate these things."

"That's exactly what I'm talking about, KP. I always figured if the world got turned upside down and I had some kind of chance with you, I'd be…different."

"Ron, you're about as different as they come, but I don't see how that makes you a bad boyfriend."

"Well, I'm not. First chance I got, and I did things that I'm not supposed to, that a gentleman wouldn't do." He hung his head slightly, before looking up at her to gauge her reaction.

"Oh, Ron, we've talked about this already. If I wanted a perfect gentleman as a boyfriend, I don't think I would have picked you…"

"KP."

"I know, that came out wrong. Ron, we're in a pretty freaky sitch right here, and I already told you, there are things that in the right time and place are okay. Get it?"

"I guess. Doesn't help that I feel kinda ashamed about it."

Kim looked at him, at the obvious distress on his face. At one point she had been worried that they might go too far, too fast, that Ron would indeed turn out to be just like any other guy in the world when it came to those things, yet here he was, admitting that he was ashamed for doing those sorts of things. Instead, it was scaring him, both because they were really into unfamiliar territory, and by the fact that he felt it would cause harm to their relationship.

"Ron…maybe we need to take a step back."

His chin drooped all the way to his chest. "I know. We're better as friends than dating. I understand KP."

"No, not that. Ron, you're a spankin boyfriend. We're not breaking up, I just mean we need to take things a little slower. It took us twelve years to get to this point, I don't think it's going to hurt us to take our time getting to the next step, whatever that is. Besides…" She trailed off, willing him to look up at her. "…I like your badical kisses."

"Really?"

"Yeah, now, back to the present. We have to figure out how to…" her words died in her throat as Dementor approached them once more.

"You'll enjoy the show much better from this central operating collector. Think of it as a front-row seat. When the machine is activated, you will both be vaporized! Poof!"

"I think I liked our seat over there better." Ron griped, nodding to the spot they had been tied to previously.

"Too bad, this is the way it is going to be done!" Dementor laughed, grinning at the teens. "Start the charging sequence!" He shouted.

It began with a tinge of ozone in the air, but in an instant it got much worse as static electricity filled the air, arcing from the central collector to anything nearby. Power surged through both their bodies, though it was only just enough to make them uncomfortable. That, and to make their hair stand on end.

"Oh great, this is so not good for my split ends." Kim muttered, looking up at her own mane as little blue sparks flitted around the red tresses.

"You will soon have much more to worry about than a bad hair day, Fräulein Possible!"

"So not the drama. If I can…just get to my…" She squirmed in her bonds, trying to get her hand toward one of the cargo pockets on her leg.

"Looking for this?" Dementor squealed in delight as he held the Kimmunicator up for both of them to see. With his other hand he was once again holding the flashlight, bathing his face in its crimson glow. "See how my villain light works? Effective, no?"

"So not what I wanted to hear." She muttered through gritted teeth as the power surged around them, making them distinctly more than uncomfortable.

"Maybe…Rufus…can…" Ron's teeth were grinding as well as he tried reaching for his little friend's accustomed home.

"Ha! You think your precious little rodent will chew through your bindings? Think again, Sidekick!" With yet another grand gesture, he pointed to a cage sitting on the counter near the kinetic modulator.

A wide grin split Kim's face. Obviously Dementor had sought to keep the little naked mole rat from saving them once more, but he failed to realized one important fact…

…she had seen him chew through a steel grating before, and had even used his ultra-strong buck teeth to turn screws. A tiny bird cage was not going to contain him, especially with his two favorite humans in danger.

It only took him a moment to realize he was not looking at a sad little creature inside a small bird cage, but that same cage with the bars broken and bent outward. A twinkling of an eye later, he realized he wasn't all that far from the cage either!

"Hi-hyah!" Rufus squeaked as he took a text-book perfect flying kick at the modulator, knocking it loose from its connections.

"What have you done?" He screamed, starting toward the rodent. "My Counter Electro-Dynamic Concentrator was sucking up the world's energy!"

Rufus shrugged once before hopping off the counter, bounding across the room before any of the hired goons could do anything to stop him. With the power cut to the concentrator, he could safely chew through the ropes, freeing the pair.

"At least I still have my cocoa maker!" Dementor grabbed it, along with the stolen modulator, making for the nearest door. Whatever tenuous grip he had on sanity was obviously fleeing him, because he didn't see his teen nemesis flipping through the air, despite having her boyfriend attached to her side. The only thing he comprehended was a size seven snow boot connecting with his chest.

The blow connected with such force it sent him cartwheeling backwards. Nobody saw the small globe roll out of his jacket as he plowed into a cluster of his men.

That is, until they were all surrounded by a cloud of weird yellow smoke.

Both Kim and Ron were grinning as the mist cleared, revealing the whole gaggle to be glued together at odd angles.

"Now, Professor, how about you kindly show us the de-bonding agent." She said softly as her fingers twined with Ron's.

* * *

Kim Possible and all related characters © Disney 


End file.
